Child of Spring
by The Forgetful Bel
Summary: What happens when a child dies right under Bunny's nose and becomes a Spirit? How will the Guardians react, and how does this involve Pitch? Starts at 1968 and continues through the movie. Watch as the Child of Spring changes things around. One kid couldn't mess with things too much.. right? Will become drabbles after I run out of plot. Rated T for first chap. angst.
1. Chapter 1: 1968

Author's Note: So, this story wouldn't leave me alone. I kept thinking of what would happen if the Guardians met a spirit that was an actual child. Would they be super protective of her? Or would they tend to write her off as just another child and ignore her like they did Jack Frost? My take on this is also that Jack died before he was 18, so he is still technically a child. Be forewarned, this chapter came out very angsty. In this story, Jack uses his mischief making as a cover for how he really feels, so at times he might seem a bit timid. But who doesn't love a Jack Frost that needs comforting? Also, Pitch won't be super evil in this. He'll be evil, but not like.. killing children evil. Even he has his limits. I'm planning on taking this story through the movie, but changing things up a bit. I haven't decided all what I'm going to do yet, so if you have any ideas, review! I think after I get through the movie plot, I'll just have this be random drabbles until I run out of ideas.

I don't tend to plan my stories ahead of time, so if you want to see something, let me know! Also, there won't be any pairings in this, since I see the Guardians as one big family. Not that I'm against pairings, it's just this story won't have any. At least for now. I might change my mind later.

Chapter One: 1968

It started with a gentle snow fall. It didn't seem like much and it didn't really bother the kids looking for Easter eggs. A few even laughed and opened their mouths to let a few flakes fall on their tongues.

No one really paid much mind to the small girl in a ragged pink dress. She wasn't with any particular group of kids looking for eggs. Her dress was in varying shades of pink as it was more patches than anything else. Her curly, brown hair fell a few inches past her shoulders and was pulled back from her face by a frayed, pink ribbon. She shivered as a cold breeze cut through her. She hadn't thought to grab her coat, and even though it was thin, it could have offered her at least some protection from the plummeting temperature.

She looked around and smiled as she spotted a bit of color by a bush. She immediately ran over and picked up the Easter egg she had found. It was painted with a beautiful spring scene that had many different colors for the various flowers that were on it. She carefully tucked the egg in her pocket to eat later. She wandered further away from the kids and towards a forest. Would the Easter Bunny hide eggs there?

With a glance back, she silently made her way into the forest. She didn't want anyone following her as she wanted the eggs all to herself. She smiled a little as she imagined walking home with her pockets filled with eggs.

Her smile grew a little wider as she spotted an egg a little ways in. She raced to it, her flat shoes crunching in the snow. Her breath could be seen as she bent and picked up the egg. This one had a picture of a basket of eggs on it, and she giggled at the sight. The Easter Bunny was so silly! Her gray eyes sparkled in a way that they hadn't for the last six months as she tucked this egg into her pocket with the other one. She vaguely felt that it was wrong to be so happy after.. after what had happened.

Her smile faded as the memories threatened to surface, only to have it come back as she spotted an egg a little further in to the wood. This one had many colorful stripes on it. She carefully picked it up and tucked in to her pocket with the others as she hardly noticed that her fingers were turning a little red from the cold.

She wandered even further in and searched everywhere for more eggs, but couldn't find any. Maybe the Easter Bunny didn't want kids to wander deep in to the woods.

It was only then that she noticed the snow was falling harder and the wind was harsher and colder. With a shiver, she turned to head back, only to discover her footprints were already covered with snow and she was surrounded by tall trees.

Her eyes widened with fear as she realized she had no idea on how to get back. She started walking fast in a direction and then broke into a run. Tears clouded her vision and with a startled cry, her foot got caught on a tree root and she fell.

For a moment she lay in the snow, which was already a couple inches deep. She felt it soaking into her dress and forced herself to sit up. Her ankle throbbed and when she tried to stand on it, she fell again.

As she sat in the cold snow, shivers wracked her body as her wet dress clung to her, making her feel even colder. She felt some lumps in her pockets and pulled out the three eggs she had collected. Her eyes widened in realization as she stared at the eggs. The Easter Bunny! Maybe he was still in the area, hiding eggs for kids or at least making sure they got home safely. She took a deep breath and called as loud as she could.

"Easter Bunny! HELP!"

* * *

Unknown to the lost child, the Easter Bunny was too busy tracking down one winter spirit. His long ears twitched in irritation as he finally caught sight of the blue hoodie in all that snow.

Said spirit's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the enraged Pooka.

"FROST!" Bunny shouted, as he grabbed the winter spirit's hood to prevent him from escaping. He failed to notice the flinch from the sudden contact and ignored the blue eyes widening in fright.

"Look what yeh did! Easter is ruined! My eggs are all covered in snow and the kids had ta go inside ta get out of the cold! Do yeh think it's funny ta ruin my special day?!" He gave Jack a hard shake as his green eyes glared at the young spirit. "Do ya?!"

Jack held his staff closer to himself as he trembled slightly. He had never seen Bunny so angry before. He looked away from the green eyes that were glaring daggers at him and looked down, letting his mop of white hair cover his face. His hoodie would be up right now if Bunny wasn't still holding onto it.

"..I.. I.. didn't mean to.." the spirit said hesitantly as the wind swirled snow around them. Even after over two hundred years, his control wasn't perfect. He had gotten over excited at giving the kids one last snow fall and hadn't stopped to think what day it was.

That excitement had channeled into his powers and the storm had quickly gotten out of control. By the time Jack had realized his mistake, it was too late.

"Didn't mean ta?!" Bunny let go of him, looking disgusted. "Just.. go. Get out of here! Yer a bloody menace!"

Looking stricken, Jack took off, letting the wind carry him. If he had thought to stop by his lake, he might have heard a child's voice calling for help, coming from the woods that surrounded it.

* * *

Several hours later the darkness was descending on the woods as the sun set. In the gathering darkness of the clearing the child was in, a tall figure stepped out of the shadows. His skin was gray and his hair was as dark as the shadows surrounding him.

His cold gaze looked around for the large amount of fear that drew him to this spot. He was in the area anyway, as a fight between a certain winter spirit and Easter Bunny caught his attention.

The winter child radiated such delicious amounts of fear. Even the accursed Pooka was afraid. Afraid for his eggs. Afraid that the children in this part of the world would stop believing. the boy was so scared of him too. Scared that the Easter Bunny now hated him. Afraid to hear that anger and note of disappointment again.

Ah, it was glorious.

His gaze swept around the clearing once more and paused as he saw something pink in the snow by a tree. He silently made his way toward it as he kept his gaze on it. He stopped suddenly as he realized what he was seeing and the fear that was emanating from it.

 _Daddy will be mad if I don't come home. Am I going to sleep forever like Mommy did? I don't want to!_

A child. He was looking at a child who was freezing to death in the snow. She was terrified because she was dying and didn't understand.

An odd expression crossed Pitch's face. Sure he loved fear and giving nightmares, but this was a different kind of fear. This was the kind of fear that chilled even his insides. This was the kind of fear he dreaded seeing.

He knelt down by her in the snow and gently brushed the snow away from her face. Her eyes fluttered open at his touch and he saw dull gray eyes staring at him, the life in them almost gone.

"..Who.. you..?" she whispered groggily at him and he felt a pang at her spike of fear.

"A friend," he answered her softly. It would do no good to explain who he really was.

Her eyes started to flutter closed as the full moon began to rise.

"..'M sleepy.." she mumbled. Apparently she could no longer feel the biting cold.

"Then sleep," he told her.

She made a small, frightened noise as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"..D-daddy.." her voice was barely more than a whisper now.

Pitch knew that she wasn't concerned for her father, she was afraid of him. Afraid of his temper. She was afraid that if she fell asleep in the woods, her farther would come find her and it wouldn't be pretty.

Pitch clenched his hands into fists. The Guardians were supposed to protect children and here is one freezing to death, overlooked because that wretched Pooka was more concerned over some eggs!

"He won't find you," Pitch assured her, wondering what the hell he was doing. But as he looked at the child freezing in the snow, he knew why he was being so kind to her. No one deserved to die alone.

"Sleep," he told her as he brushed her hair away from her face, "I'll stay with you."

The child's eyes closed again and she relaxed against the tree she was leaning against. The last thing she heard was the soft sounds of a man humming.

Pitch hummed softly, an old, forgotten tune. He stopped as he heard the child give one last sigh and stopped breathing. He rose to his feet and glared at the moon, as if daring it to do something.

"So," he said heatedly, his voice filled with hatred, "you'll just sit there and watch as a child dies-"

He stopped abruptly as the full moon gave off a tremendous glow. The rays of moonlight filtered down through the trees and bathed the girl in their silvery glow.

Pitch stared with his mouth slightly open as the girl's curly, brown hair became richer, like the color of good earth. Her skin was pale as ever, but took on a healthier glow and was less like the pale skin of death.

Suddenly the child gave a huge gasp and sat bolt upright. Her eyes which were once gray, were now a deep green. The deep green of a forest's leaves, of a meadow full of long grass.

They stared up in wonder at the moon, which whispered almost smugly to her. (Pitch was sure it was smug, as if the Man in the Moon were gloating at him.)

 _Lillian, Child of Spring._

There was a disbelieving snort and green eyes snapped suddenly to gold as Lillian found herself looking at a gray skinned man dressed in all black. As they stared at each other she finally spoke.

"Who are you?"

* * *

Author's Note: So ends the first chapter! It came out a lot more angsty than I was imagining and then Pitch just had to show up and show he's not all evilness. So what do you guys think? Let me know how you feel the formatting is. I am currently writing the story by hand and then typing it up on the computer, so my paragraphs tend to look a lot longer on paper than they do on the computer. Remember, if you have any special requests for the story, just let me know! Oh, and expect slow updates. I'll try for at least once a weekend, but it depends on what's going on during the week.


	2. Chapter 2: Every Child Needs a Guardian

Author's Note: Augh! I had this all typed up and it got deleted! Anyway, as I said before (not that you'd know) I want to thank my reviewers as they inspired me to write the next chapter of the story right away and post it up quickly. I want to add that this is _not_ a bashing the Guardians fic. Pitch just hasn't had good experiences with them and they have made mistakes. Just ask Jack Frost about his three hundred years! Anyway, for those who are impatiently waiting for the next chapter after you've read this one, the next chapter should be out by the end of the week or on the weekend.

In response to the reviewer who recommended that Lillian meet Jack early, oh it's coming. With him being the bringer of winter and her of spring, it was inevitable. I'm not sure if I want the other Guardians to figure out if she's a season spirit or not though. Jack would know of course, but the others might just see her as a kid running around. I hope you guys like this chapter, it totally ran away on me and turned out differently than I thought it would.

Oh and..

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! Except for Lillian!

Chapter Two: Every Child Needs a Guardian

Pitch stared at the child, wondering what to tell her. Green eyes merely looked back at him curiously.

Pitch cleared his throat.

"You could see me before, surely you must know who I am."

The girl, Lillian, looked confused.

"Before?"

"Before you became a Child of Spring," Pitch said with a bite of impatience in his tone.

Lillian only looked more confused at this.

"I wasn't anyone before I became a Child of Spring," she said as Pitch's eyes widened, "I just woke up."

"You remember nothing," he said flatly with a glance at the moon. It merely glowed back at him innocently.

Lillian's face scrunched as she tried to make sense of this.

"Am I supposed to remember something?"

Pitch hesitated briefly, before he wiped his face of all emotion.

"No, of course not," he lied smoothly.

It was a relief to know that she wouldn't remember her traumatic death or her home life. With her being so afraid of her father, he suspected that she had few happy memories.

He looked at her more closely as she began to stand. Her dress was still very ragged and her flat shoes very inadequate for the snow.

Just as he thought she might freeze _again,_ he heard a strange hissing sound. He glanced down at her feet to see steam actually rising from the ground she was standing on.

As Lillian looked down at her feet too, a stray shaft of moonlight hit her wrist and began to glow. As the glow subsided, a bracelet could be seen. It was made up of gems cut into the shape of flowers. The flowers were rose-red in the center with green on the outer petals.

Feeling the new weight on her wrist, Lillian glanced at it, then looked startled to see the bracelet there and wordlessly held out her hand to Pitch.

He looked from the rapidly melting snow at her feet, to her wrist which he now saw was adorned with a flowery bracelet. He looked at it more closely and recognized the stones as watermelon tourmaline, a stone that often had a rose-red center and green outer layer.

"Pretty," he commented vaguely, wondering where it came from. "As to your earlier question, I am Kozmotis Pitchiner, but you however can call me Pitch."

"I'm Lillian," the girl said unnecessarily.

"I've heard," Pitch said dryly. He glanced around as though expecting to see someone and sighed.

"Well child, I'll stay with you until the Guardians arrive to help you," Pitch said as he fought to keep his face and tone neutral. "Surely even they can tell when a new seasonal spirit is born."

Disappointment flashed across Lillian's face.

"Oh," she said, her voice small. "You aren't going to stay with me?"

"Unfortunately I do have places to be. The Guardians are the Guardians of Childhood, and seeing as you are still a child, you would fall under their jurisdiction," Pitch explained gently to her.

Lillian took a step to the side, watching as more snow began to melt.

"Guardians?" she asked as spring flowers magically grew on the ground she had been previously standing on.

Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose and glared at the moon. Did the man in the moon really think it was amusing to create a new spirit and then abandon it, leaving it very vulnerable and helpless?

The moon seemed to twinkle in response. With an aggravated huff, Pitch turned away from the moon to answer the child.

"There are four Guardians. There is Nicholas St. North or North as he is more commonly referred to, and he is the Guardian of Wonder; Toothiana or Tooth who is the Guardian of Memories; Sanderson Mansnoozie or the Sandman is the Guardian of Dreams; and lastly E. Aster Bunnymund or the Easter Bunny who is the Guardian of Hope."

Lillian nodded, although Pitch could tell that she had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. Holding in another sigh, he elaborated.

"North has a holiday called Christmas where on the night of Christmas Eve or December twenty-fourth, he gives all the good children presents."

"Ohh," Lillian breathed, enraptured by Pitch's explanation. "What do the bad kids get?"

"Nothing of course. Naughty children do not deserve gifts. Tooth has no holiday of her own, but when a child loses a tooth, that child places it under a pillow. One of Tooth's fairies then retrieves it and puts a quarter in its place as a gift."

He paused and swore he could see the child poking around at her own teeth with her tongue.

"Spirits don't lose teeth as human children do," he explained, "nor do they age. As you are a child, you will always have baby teeth."

Lillian looked disappointed to hear that, so he hurried on.

"The Sandman uses golden sand to spread good dreams to the children of the world," Pitch fought a sneer, "He also has no holiday of his own. Lastly that wretched Pooka - "

"Pooka?" Lillian interrupted, not noticing Pitch's angry and bitter tone.

"He is the last of his kind. Imagine a rather tall warrior rabbit with an Australian accent," Pitch said patiently, "His holiday is Easter and he paints eggs and hides them around the world for children to find."

"Wow," Lillian said with a look of awe on her face.

Pitch looked away, turning to stare out at the darkness. No child would ever look at him that way.

"And the Guardians are going to come here? For me?" Lillian asked, not quite believing it.

"They protect all children," Pitch said, his face unreadable as he stared at the darkness, "This must fall to spirits who are children as well."

Childish laughter rang out at that thought.

"I can't wait! Are they all nice like you, Mr. Pitch?" she asked eagerly.

Pitch froze.

Did a child actually call him _nice?_

It took him a moment to collect himself.

"It's just Pitch," he finally said not really answering her.

Better let the Guardians explain, he thought to himself. He couldn't bear to see her expression when she found out that he was actually the monster under the bed. The monster that haunted children's nightmares.

"Will we get to see where the Easter Bunny paints his eggs?" she asked, her green eyes sparkling in happiness, unaware of the effect she had on Pitch.

"I'm not certain where they will take _you,_ but as you are the spring seasonal spirit it would seem to be the logical choice."

"Yay!" Lillian exclaimed, jumping up and down in her excitement.

Pitch noticed that her bracelet seemed to be glowing a bit, and he definitely felt a warm spring breeze. The snow also seemed to be rapidly melting.

Two hours later, the little clearing they were in was completely free of snow and had pretty spring flowers growing everywhere. The grass was a vibrant green and Lillian's spring magic seemed to be working overtime as the ground wasn't even muddy.

Lillian was sitting on the ground, unknowingly leaning against the tree she had died on, in a pose very similar to the one Pitch had found her in.

She was wearing a flower crown made from the spring flowers she had accidentally grown and her solemn expression made Pitch frown.

"They're coming, right?" Lillian finally asked hesitantly five minutes later.

"They protect all children, remember," Pitch answered her, keeping his gaze averted from her. It was unnerving to see her like that.

"I hope they come soon," Lillian said, her voice sounding small and uncertain.

Her fear rang out to Pitch in the darkness and he clenched his hands into fists again.

 _What if they don't want me?_

Several hours later, Pitch found himself sitting next to a very distraught Child of Spring.

"Th-they don't w-want me," she sobbed as she leaned against Pitch's arm, her tears soaking his sleeve.

Pitch looked down at the mop of flowers and rich, brown curls as Lillian had hidden her face on his arm. He could feel her shaking as her sobs wracked her frame.

He looked up at the sky where the moon had been. Now it was obscured by the early light of dawn.

Guardians indeed.

All they cared about was collecting teeth, eggs, presents and flying at a distance, spreading dreams. In their haste to "protect" children ( _mortal_ children, Pitch reminded himself) they had overlooked one _twice_ in her most desperate time of need.

As the sky grew brighter, Pitch knew he had to go. He glanced down at the child again, wondering what he was going to do.

* * *

Back at the North Pole, Bunny was stomping around doing his second most favorite thing, complaining about a certain winter spirit.

"Shoulda seen it, snow everywhere!" Bunny threw up his arms in exasperation.

"Maybe is accident, no?" North said in a placating tone as he supervised the organized chaos that was his workshop.

"A-accident?" Bunny said faintly, shock evident on his face. "That was no accident!" he roared, "How do yeh accidentally make the worst blizzard ever seen for twenty years?!"

"Bunny is only snow!" North exclaimed as he watched a yeti making dolls. "After all, Easter is not Christmas."

Bunny stopped his stomping to glare angrily at North.

"I come here ta tell yeh that Easter was practically ruined and all yeh can say is Easter is not Christmas?!"

"Da," North agreed, oblivious to Bunny's temper.

"Why I oughta.." Bunny continued to glare at North. "Kids coulda been hurt! A lot of 'em weren't dressed for the cold and the temperature dropped fast! Some of 'em coulda _died_ North!"

North looked away from the dolls, all of which had curly hair and wintery blue dresses on.

"Is not girly enough," he said dismissively to the yeti. "Make dresses pink."

The yeti looked at the huge pile of dolls he had already made and cried out in frustration.

North turned to Bunny with a serious expression on his face.

"What do you suggest? We visit winter spirit? Tell him is bad to make blizzard on Easter?"

"Someone has ta," Bunny growled, "I don't think he was listenin' ta me. Kept making up excuses."

North's serious expression melted away into a happy grin and he clapped his hands together.

"Then is settled! Tonight we visit Jack Frost!"

* * *

If they had decided to try and find Jack during the day time, they might have arrived in time to see Pitch Black scoop a now sleeping Child of Spring into his arms as he stood up.

He looked down at her with that same odd expression he had when she was dying.

He then looked up at where he could still faintly see the moon.

"Still believe your Guardians will come help her, old friend?" he said softly, his tone accusing.

As he disappeared with her in the fading shadows, the moon seemed to grow a little dimmer in response.

* * *

Author's Note: Bet you didn't see that one coming, eh? I have the next chapter more or less figured out. It will mainly feature the little chat the Guardians have planned with Jack and Lillian exploring Pitch's lair. I know in the movie they don't really show too much of it. I'm guessing it's probably just a big cavern or series of underground caves that are shrouded in darkness. I saw a house on a tv show once where a house was literally carved out of rock (like a big cavern it was awesome), so I think I'll borrow some of that for Pitch's place. If you have anything you want to see in the next chapter specifically, just let me know. I'll be working on it throughout the week. I'm also thinking that after this there will be lots of scenes between '68 and the present to show time passing. And yes, Lillian and Jack will have lots of fun.

I also forgot to add that I haven't read the books, so any non-movie info is from Google and just tidbits I picked up from other fics I've read. I'll keep non-movie stuff to a minimum and probably make up things here or there. If you've read the books and my info is way off base, I apologize. There really is a gem called watermelon tourmaline (yay google), I totally stole it and probably used it incorrectly to make Lillian's bracelet.


	3. Chapter 3: Ultimatums and Explanations

Author's Note: Thanks to all the people who favorited, followed and reviewed! An especially big thanks to the guest who gave me a little background info on Pitch. I feel bad that I made Lillian die now, but her character was already established and I wasn't sure how else to make her a spirit.

To answer a few reviews: I wasn't planning on having a Mother Nature. I want the seasonals to kind of work things out for themselves, and Lillian can have a little help with her powers from someone else then. :)

Also, you might want to punch Bunny now, but remember it took a long time in the movie for Bunny to even tolerate Jack, let alone be friendly with him. So Bunny's going to be a jerk for awhile. And the Guardians are well meaning, but they just.. don't understand things, so they think they're doing a good thing by talking to Jack. And there's a _little_ bit of Lillian interacting with Jack.

Anyway, on with the story!

 **Edit:** I fixed a few typos that were bugging me in all three of the chapters. So sorry if this sends out an alert. No updates yet! The next chapter will be out sometime on the weekend or on Monday at the latest.

Chapter Three: Ultimatums and Explanations

The day passed by quickly and as soon as the sun set, the northern lights appeared, sending out the call for the Guardians.

As usual, Bunny was the first to arrive. He entered the globe room complaining about the cold.

"Paws are freezin'.." he muttered, looking around.

In the center of the room sat the globe which had many golden lights shining on it, each light representing a child who believes. Some of the lights were flickering or dim, indicating that some children's beliefs were wavering or not that strong.

Bunny noted with a pang that many of the flickering or dim lights were around Burgess, the town that got hit by that awful blizzard.

As he was studying the lights, Bunny blinked. There, near Burgess was a blue light. It wasn't as bright as some of the golden ones but it was there. His eyes roamed around the globe, and he spotted another blue light in.. Antarctica?

Bunny remembered that over two hundred years ago, the first blue light appeared on the globe. Now there was another one.

"North!" Bunny called as Tooth flew in with some of her fairies.

"Sector Two in Seattle! One incisor in a freak canoeing accident!" she told a fairy who flew off as North entered the room.

"Ah, Tooth! Is good to see you!" North said happily as he spotted her.

"North, Tooth! Look at this, mates!" Bunny said impatiently as he gestured at the globe. "That blue light is in Antarctica again! And there's _another_ blue light here," he pointed it out, "near Burgess."

North and Tooth went over to check it out. They had noticed the first blue light a long time ago. At first it was very bright, and they were excited that maybe it was an extra strong believer, but quickly changed their minds when the light stayed on the globe for more than a hundred years.

Each of them had kept an eye on that light over the years. Sometimes it glowed brightly and sometimes it was dim.

The first time they saw that it was in Antarctica and flickering, they panicked. North had been busy with the aftermath of Christmas, so Sandy had gone out to see.

Hours later he returned to say (or sign) that Antarctica was having a terrible blizzard and he could barely see anything, let alone if there was a person in trouble.

They fretted until a few days later when the light moved from Antarctica to another part of the globe. They noticed that it tended to travel all over the world, but none of them could figure out how it moved around so quickly. And now there was another one!

"It's so dim," Tooth noted sadly as she studied the new blue light. Then she looked at the light in Antarctica and sighed sadly. "That one is dim too," she pointed out. She was relieved that it wasn't flickering again, but knew it was only a matter of time.

She turned to North, who was looking at the lights in consternation.

"You still haven't figured out why that light is blue?" she asked.

North shook his head.

"Is big mystery," North said. "Blue light cannot be child as it is on globe for over two hundred years now. And yet only children appear on the globe!"

"What if – " Bunny started, but was interrupted by the arrival of Sandy in his sand plane.

Sandy pushed his sand goggles up on his head as the plane changed back into its usual golden cloud.

He floated over by the others who were still gathered around the large globe. They quickly filled him in on the new blue light and that the other one was in Antarctica again.

A big, golden question mark appeared over Sandy's head as he looked at the globe, puzzled.

"What if the blue lights are for spirits?" Bunny asked.

North waved this aside.

"There are no children who are spirits! Man in Moon would have told us."

"Then how do ya explain a two hundred year old light?" Bunny asked impatiently.

"Well – " North started, then stopped. How do you explain that?

"New York, hockey! Two molars!" Tooth called out. She looked at the others. "Is this why we were called here?"

North shook his head, indicating that they had other problems.

"Jack Frost is up to old tricks," he said.

Bunny interrupted, fuming again.

"Old tricks?! He made a blizzard in Burgess! On Easter!"

He pointed at the globe.

"Look at that! He seriously hurt the belief of so many children!" he said, his face angry. "Not to mention the danger he put them in!"

"Bunny wishes to explain to Jack Frost that making blizzard is bad on Easter." North explained.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," Tooth said as she looked at the globe anxiously.

Sandy looked over at the window to see the moon rising. He waved his hands and pointed, but nobody seemed to notice.

The moonlight that was shining in from the window went down to some symbols that were carved intricately into the floor.

As it moved towards a particular spot, Tooth gasped and pointed.

"Look! It's Manny!" she said as they all turned to look at the shaft of moonlight as it made its way across the floor.

North looked at where it was headed and his eyes widened.

"Is moving to seasonal symbols!" he exclaimed.

Bunny looked around at them smugly at this.

"Even the Man in the Moon agrees with me," he said, his tone a little arrogant.

Sandy rolled his eyes.

Surrounding the 'G' that stood for the Guardians, were four smaller symbols carved into the floor.

There was a flower, a sun, a leaf and a snowflake. The moon beam went straight to the flower, illuminating it.

The Guardians stared at the flower. What did this mean?

* * *

Meanwhile, deep underground Lillian sat up suddenly in bed. She looked around sleepily with her curls all tangled. As she yawned, she looked around again, trying to figure out why she felt strange.

She felt a little tingly and could have sworn someone had been calling her name.

As she began to wake up more, she could see she was in some sort of cave. It wasn't too big or too small.

Lillian felt cool sheets under her and wondered what a bed was doing in a cave. Or was it a bed? Looking around more carefully, she saw that while she was on a child-sized mattress with sheets, a pillow and what looked like a hand-stitched quilt, there was no bed frame. Instead, the mattress was in a big half-moon shape that looked like it was carved out of the stone wall. The mattress rested on the bottom, which was flat.

She peered over the edge of the bed to see it wasn't too high off the floor, and thanks to the lack of a bed frame, there was no dark and scary space under the bed.

Lillian looked at the walls more closely and saw that there were smaller spaces carved into the wall, to make shelves.

There were some longer shelves low to the ground on the opposite wall of her bed, tucked into a corner that seemed to make a little bookcase as they had a few books.

Directly opposite her bed was a tall, rectangular shelf that had an oil lamp sitting on it. It seemed to be high off the ground purposely so that little fingers couldn't reach it, but an adult could.

Next to this, was a space that could only be a closet. It was a big square that was low to the ground, with a metal beam for hanging clothes near the top. Under the square were a few rectangular shapes carved into the wall that must be shelves of some sort for other clothes or shoes.

There were also a few empty shelves here and there and a small boulder sat near the bookcase with a flat top, as though it was a substitute for a table.

As Lillian took in all this, she couldn't help but feel this cave-room was a little sparse, as though it had been waiting for an owner to give it some personality.

Judging by the faded quilt and the age of the books, it had been waiting for a very long time.

Lillian couldn't help but like the room. Everything in it was the perfect size for her and with the oil lamp burning away merrily, it was very cozy.

As Lillian looked around the cave-room, she wondered how she came to be there. She examined her small amount of memories and remembered sitting with Pitch and she was upset because –

Her face fell. The Guardians. They never came for her.

North only came for good kids, so did that mean she was bad? And where was Pitch?! As she started panicking, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room. He stepped forward and immediately hit his knee on the table-rock.

He let loose a few choice words before he quickly stifled them.

The sound drew Lillian's attention and she smiled happily.

"Pitch!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw the figure.

Pitch hobbled over to her with as much dignity he could muster.

"You were expecting someone else?" he asked.

Lillian blushed, looking embarrassed.

"I thought –" she started.

Pitch cut her off.

"Of course I wouldn't have abandoned you there. You don't have to be afraid that I would leave you all alone." He said reassuringly.

Lillian looked confused.

"How..?"

"I always know people's greatest fears. It's a talent I possess." he answered her.

"Oh," Lillian said. "So this place is your house?"

Pitch looked a little uncomfortable at that.

"This is one of many rooms in my underground domain. I made this room several years ago in my more optimistic days."

Lillian had no idea what he meant by that but she nodded anyway.

Pitch sat down on the edge of the bed and lightly brushed his finger tips along the edge of the quilt.

"I was thinking perhaps since you have no place to call your own, that you would consider staying with me."

Lillian's eyes went wide.

"This room would be yours and you could decorate it however you like," he continued. "But before you make up your mind, there are a few things you have to know."

Pitch kept tracing patterns on her bed, not quite looking Lillian in the eye.

"As all spirits do, I have a job I must do. Mine is to spread fear. All children need a touch of fear growing up. Without fear, they wouldn't be able to grow and become stronger," he explained, not quite sure if he was rationalizing things for Lillian or himself, "I do this by giving children nightmares. If they believe in me, they can see me as well. I travel through the shadows and they would sometimes see me appear under their bed. That's why children today are afraid of the monster under the bed."

He risked a glance up at her.

"I understand if you don't –"

Lillian looked thoughtful.

"So you help kids get over their fears by giving them nightmares?" she asked.

"That's one way of putting it, I suppose." Pitch said, surprised.

He thought she would be cringing away from him by now.

"And I can really stay here?" she asked excitedly.

Pitch nodded and was surprised to find himself with an armful of spring spirit as she had thrown her arms around him.

She smiled up at him.

"We'll be like a family."

A family. The one thing he had always longed for. A family to call his own and to not be alone.

He pulled Lillian close in a hug, hardly able to speak.

"A family," he agreed.

* * *

"I know!" North finally said. "Manny is saying Spirit of Spring take care of blizzard and not to worry."

If a moon could face palm, it would have by now.

"Maybe if we paid Jack Frost a visit and _gently_ explained about how making blizzards on Easter is bad," Tooth said hesitantly with a look at Bunny.

"Then is settled! We will go in sleigh!" North cheerfully exclaimed.

Bunny appeared to be having second thoughts.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" Bunny said while following the other Guardians to the sleigh.

"Won't my tunnels be safer?" he tried, as he always did when North tried to get them all to take the sleigh.

"Nonsense! Sleigh is quickest," North said.

Sandy patted the seat next to him with a grin and Bunny very reluctantly climbed in and sat next to him.

North grabbed up the reins, then paused.

"Where _do_ we find Jack Frost?"

It took two hours of searching before they finally realized how much they know about Jack Frost: absolutely nothing.

They all knew he was a trouble maker because of the fact he was always on the naughty list and because the other spirits were always complaining about him.

If they had stopped to think about it, only _children_ appeared on the naughty or nice lists and Jack Frost always seemed to cause the most trouble after Christmas.

But they were always too busy with other things to really notice this.

It finally took them two days to catch up with the winter spirit. Two days of searching cold places for Jack Frost's home and coming up with nothing.

They finally saw the spirit lounging around in a tree near a lake that was still frozen over, despite the fact that the weather definitely had more of a spring feeling to it. In fact, most of the deep snow had gone and now only a few inches remained.

The Guardians would never know that it was a combination of Lillian's spring magic that she set in motion in the forest that one day and Jack's, to help make the snow disappear that caused so much of it to vanish in such a short amount of time.

Nor could they realize that Jack was in the tree because he had exhausted himself. It took little effort for him to make snow, but making it disappear was another matter. It took all the concentration he could muster, since it was difficult for even him to have such control over his powers.

But all Jack could think about was Bunny's disappointment and disgust, so after spending several hours in Antarctica, he returned to Burgess to set things right.

He had been surprised to discover that the snow in the forest had already melted and his lake was starting to thaw out. With a tap of his staff, he quickly froze his lake over and thickened the ice. He didn't know why, but the thought of thin or no ice on his lake made him nervous.

He then proceeded to call on the wind to fly him all around Burgess.

A few days later, the temperature was a little warmer and the snow significantly less. The people of Burgess had taken this all in stride. They were long since used to strange weather, especially around the winter time.

The wind had gently set Jack down in his favorite tree, ruffling his hair with a worried whisper that only he could hear.

"'M alright," he mumbled to the wind.

He closed his eyes and had a peaceful ten minutes before a big, red sleigh landed loudly near the lake. Jack was so startled that he fell out of his tree. As he used his staff to help himself up to his feet, he heard a familiar Australian accent that had him internally cringing.

Jack's eyes widened when he saw that Bunny had _Santa_ , Sandy and the Tooth Fairy with him.

"Jack!" North said in a booming voice that had Jack jumping a little.

Jack was leaning on his staff in a nonchalant pose that to Bunny, looked very arrogant.

If Bunny had looked at Jack more closely, he might have seen that Jack was more pale than usual and he was leaning on his staff for support.

"At last we find you," North continued, "You are difficult to spirit to track down."

Jack looked at them a little guiltily.

"If it's about that blizzard.."

"'Course it is!" Bunny glared at him. "Ya can't go around causing trouble on other spirits' holidays!"

"But –" Jack tried to explain.

Tooth flew forward a little.

"Sweetie, we know you didn't mean to cause trouble, but you have to think of the children," she said. "A lot of them missed out on Easter and some of them could have been hurt, since the weather changed so quickly."

"Da," North spoke up before Jack could. "You see, is not good to always play tricks and be naughty. You hold record for naughty list!"

Hurt pooled in Jack's eyes, but he hitched a carefree smirk on his face. He looked at the Guardians. Tooth was wringing her hands and looking at him anxiously, while North looked a little disappointed. Bunny had his arms crossed and an impassive look was on his face. Sandy waved his arms to get Jack's attention. He made a lot of golden little snowflakes above his head followed by a sad face. After this he made a golden snowflake with an X through it followed by a happy face.

Jack didn't know what to think. First Bunny yelled at him for the blizzard, and then the Guardians show up to yell at him _more_ and didn't even notice that he helped clean up all the snow. Not only that, but they were telling him snow is bad and not to play tricks.

Jack Frost is all about fun, snow and tricks. If they didn't like that, they didn't like him. The fact that the _Guardians_ were telling him this, his secret heroes that he had looked up to for years, hurt.

"See, he's doing it again!" Bunny yelled, pointing accusingly at Jack.

Jack was surprised to see that it was snowing lightly. He smirked at Bunny.

"What's the matter, Cottontail, can't handle a little snow?"

Bunny saw red at the cocky expression on Jack's face and raised a fist, but was stopped by doing anything further by Sandy, who had a golden pair of boxing gloves crossed out over his head.

North saw the tension between Bunny and Jack and began to usher the others back to the sleigh.

"Remember what we tell you, Jack." He said. "We only have best interest at heart."

Jack looked at the ground as the sleigh took back off, his mop of white hair covering his face. He could feel his façade crack and frozen tears fell down his face.

The Guardians didn't even try listening to him. They thought he was _bad._ As he wiped tears from his face, he heard a young girl's voice.

"Boy, why are you crying?"

* * *

Author's Note: Whew! This chapter was long. At least if felt much longer than the others. Ok, a side note on Pitch. In the movie he hints that he was longing for a family when he's trying to convince Jack to go over to the dark side. So I had figured that before he ever gave up on having a family, he would have made a lot of rooms for them in his underground cavern. I had decided this before the reviewer gave me background info on Pitch and decided to keep it there. It gives Lillian an awesome cave room, anyway.

I'm also sorry for stopping on such a cliffhanger! I promise I'll try to stop doing that, but I felt like it was a good stopping point. The next chapter will feature a lot of Lillian/Jack scenes and maybe some with the other Guardians as well. I'll try not to make it super angsty, I promise. I was thinking about Pitch, and since he's sort of declared himself Lillian's guardian, should he meet Jack? Maybe take Jack under his wing too? I can't decide if I want him to or not, or how this will work out in the movie chapters.. Hm!


	4. Chapter 4: Ice to Meet You

Author's Note: Wow, this story already has 330 views! That's awesome. I also see that more people have favorited, followed and reviewed! Thanks guys! As to the reviews, I see you guys are a little split on the Pitch helps Jack thing. I still haven't really decided, but I think for now Pitch will remain in the background. Knowing Pitch though, I doubt he'll stay there for long.. So I guess we'll have to see what happens. Also, I felt super guilty that I haven't worked on the story all week.. So I quickly typed this out on the computer and decided to post this early! I tend to be a little wordy on the computer, so.. uh.. forgive any rambling!

Also..

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING. Except for Lillian. And the giant flower. The flowers as she walks thing I kinda stole from Ferngully, the Last Rainforest. I don't own that either. And since I keep forgetting the disclaimer, just remember I own nothing. I'll probably put another disclaimer if this fic gets ridiculously long. But for now, that's enough with the disclaimers.

Chapter Four: Ice to Meet You

While Jack was getting lectured by the Guardians, Lillian was being lectured by Pitch. You never would have suspected it of him, but Pitch was a worrier. Lillian did her best to nod at Pitch's questions and reassure him, but _really_.

Lillian was standing in the main part of Pitch's lair, or at least the room he occupied the most. It was dark, but near the entrance and it had a black globe on it that had several golden lights shining. She didn't realize it, but there were also two blue lights on the globe near Burgess, and one was growing dimmer.

She paid this little mind though as her thoughts drifted back to her cave-room. She still hadn't decorated her room yet, but it already was looking a little more occupied. Her raggedy dress was hanging in her "closet" already, having been mended a little by Pitch. She was also wearing a new handmade dress that was black as midnight. There was a light, floaty silvery material tied at her waist to make a big bow in the back and her brown, curly hair was tied back with a silvery ribbon. The black and silver reminded Lillian of the moon at night, but she didn't tell Pitch this, since for some reason he didn't really like the moon. Instead, she told him it reminded her of the stars in the night sky.

Pitch's lips had quirked at this, and Lillian had to marvel at his skills. After all, who knew Pitch could sew? She was also wearing new boots (where they came from she didn't know and didn't ask), that were also black and comfy. While a lot of the snow had melted, it hadn't _completely_ melted which Pitch was quick to remind her.

"Now, wear this. I know you are a Child of Spring, but I will not have you catch cold," he said in a paternal manner as he drew a black hooded cloak around her shoulders. Lillian smiled up at him at this, totally unaware that cloaks had gone out of fashion hundreds of years ago. Not that it mattered much anyway, since Pitch had assured her that no one would be able to see her.

Lillian tied the cloak securely around her shoulders and giggled a little at Pitch's motherly attentions.

"I won't catch cold, Pitch," she said with a smile. "Besides, I melt the snow I touch. How can I catch cold?"

Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose. He hated to admit it, but seeing Lillian freeze to death had greatly disturbed him, and he would be damned if he let it happen again.

"Just.. do as I say," he finally said, his voice tight.

Almost as if sensing his unease on the subject, Lillian didn't comment and merely nodded at him.

The tension left Pitch a little at this. At least the child was listening.

"Now, remember. No humans can see you, and will walk through you. It isn't a pleasant feeling, so avoid this at all costs. Only spirits can see you, and remember what I -" he said, rambling a bit.

Lillian huffed at this, quickly tiring of the lecture.

"I _know_. Don't talk to strange spirits 'cuz not all of them are nice. And if I _do_ meet them, don't tell them that I'm staying with you, 'cuz nobody really likes you, 'cept for me," she added on with a shy smile.

Pitch nodded at her words.

"It's very important that you remember this, as other spirits might not understand you staying with me and would try to take you away. Understand?"

Lillian didn't understand, not really. Pitch had told her that other spirits didn't understand about him spreading nightmares, but she didn't really get it. Pitch only spread nightmares to help kids grow up and get over their fears, it's not like he did it to be _mean_.

But she knew that Pitch desperately wanted her to understand, so she nodded dutifully anyway.

Pitch eyed her suspiciously, as if he suspected she was just humoring him, but he didn't comment on it.

"You also must stay close to my lair and I expect you back at sunset. You know that I do not venture out in the daytime, but I will gladly pull you here through the shadows if I even _suspect_ that you are disobeying me," he said, his voice suddenly stern as he gave her what Lillian was quickly dubbing the Look. That Look he gave when he meant Business.

Pitch didn't realize it of course, but he was already turning into a parent. Lillian could tell, but she didn't know how she could tell. She just knew that this sort of parenting seemed familiar and foreign all at once. It was a strange feeling.. She felt like long ago, someone had been like this with her, but she only woke up a few days ago, right?

Mentally shaking her head to rid herself of those confusing thoughts she nodded again at Pitch.

"I promise I'll stay close and won't talk to anyone strange, Pitch," she said softly. "And if I get cold, I'll come back. I won't leave the forest either, if you like."

She did kind of want to wander into the town, but she instantly knew Pitch wouldn't really like it. She could content herself with just exploring around the wood for awhile. Being a seasonal spirit, it wasn't like them to be locked up in caves for long periods of time and the outside was calling to her. Even though her cave-room was homey, it still felt a little stifling after awhile.

So after somewhat patiently waiting for Pitch to triple check that she was as warm as could be, he sent her off to play, by helping her through the shadows. He didn't leave them himself, but watched as she left the shade of a tree and ran off.

Golden eyes glowed in the darkness of the shadow as he watched her. She was so young.. She only looked to be around six years old, after all. Far too young to be left on her own, but there was little he could do about it. He reluctantly withdrew from the shadow back to his lair. He was a nocturnal spirit and a spring spirit would never be nocturnal no matter how much he wished it would be that way.

Unaware of Pitch's worry, Lillian eagerly ran around in the snow, as somehow not all the snow had melted away by Pitch's lair. She whirled around in a circle, her arms outstretched as she laughed. She promptly got dizzy and fell over in the snow, but that was alright.

She spread out her arms and legs and made a snow angel. She wasn't sure how she knew how to do this, but she just did. She carefully got up and surveyed her work. The hood of her cloak, which was down, had made strange marks in the snow and her boots had made footprints in the feet of the snow angel, but that was alright.

Giving her work a nod, Lillian continued on to explore the woods. After getting a little lost (not that she would _ever_ tell Pitch this), she soon saw a frozen lake. Strangely, there wasn't much snow at all in the woods and so this frozen lake was somewhat puzzling.

She saw a flash of red taking off from the lake, but before she could get a good look at it, a figure in blue drew her attention. It was a boy, she could see. He was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with ragged brown pants. They were fraying a bit at the ends. The boy had his head down, with his white hair covering his eyes.

Her eyes widened in astonishment as she saw the boy wipe some tears away. That was when she realized his shoulders were shaking. Forgetting all about Pitch's demands, she hurriedly left the forest and walked closer to the boy. Even though he was much older than her, she could tell that he wasn't a Grown Up yet.

"Boy, why are you crying?" she asked, her voice soft and shy, yet easily heard in the quiet of the lake.

The boy's head jerked up suddenly and he stared at Lillian with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They reminded her of the cold of winter, but they held none of winter's cruelties in them.

She titled her head at him, confused as to why he wasn't answering, and then it occurred to her that he wouldn't be able to see her. Duh, humans can't see spirits-

"C-can you see me..?" he asked suddenly, his voice hesitant.

Holy. Cow. He could see her! He could hear her! This was _amazing!_

She nodded with a smile on her face.

"..You.. you can hear me too..?" he said, hardly believing it.

Lillian nodded then gasped as he gave a strangled cheer and leaped forward, grabbing her in his arms and twirling her around. The light snow that had been falling when he was upset, suddenly grew a little heavier at his happiness.

Lillian giggled as he set her down on her feet.

"I'm Jack Frost," Jack told her happily. "How can you see me?"

"I'm Lillian, the Child of Spring," she said to Jack's complete surprise. "I'm supposed to make it be Spring now, but I don't know how."

"You.. you're the spirit of spring?!" Jack said, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Yup," Lillian said. "I woke up a few days ago. You're a spirit too, right..?" she asked, suddenly remembering Pitch's warning of avoiding strange spirits. Whoops.

"I'm the winter spirit," Jack said with a grin.

Before Lillian knew it, she was hit with a snowball to the face. She had been about to ask him again about why he was crying but that was soon forgotten. If she had thought about his intentions more, she might have realized that this was Jack's plan.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, wiping snow off her face. She looked around for ammunition, but pouted when she realized she didn't have any. "No fair!"

Jack laughed, his eyes sparkling with mischief. The snow picked up a little and Lillian looked around.

"Is it supposed to be snowing now? I thought it was spring," she questioned.

Jack looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry about that," he said as he waved his staff and the snow stopped falling.

"Wow!" Lillian looked at him with awe. "How did you do that?"

"Huh?" Jack looked puzzled. "I used my staff. It helps me focus my powers. It's almost impossible for me to use them without it," he said.

"Oh," Lillian said with a slight frown as she examined herself. "But I don't have one of those. How can I focus my powers?"

Jack shrugged.

"I kind of found out how to use mine by accident. I guess if you play around with what you do know, you'll eventually figure it out."

Lillian huffed at that.

"Doesn't somebody show new spirits how to use their powers?"

Jack shook his head.

"Not that I know of. You're the first spirit I've seen in over two hundred years that'll even talk to me. I see Sandy sometimes, but he's always too busy to talk for very long."

At the mention of one of the Guardians, Lillian looked a little sad. She cast her gaze up at the sky.

"What about the Man in the Moon? He made us, right? He could tell us how to use them."

Jack's look darkened at that.

"The moon doesn't talk to me. It just told me that I was Jack Frost."

Lillian nodded sympathetically.

"He told me I was Lillian and I was a Child of Spring, but that was it. What _does_ a spring spirit do?"

Jack shifted so he was in a more comfortable position. He was feeling more alive having this conversation than he had ever felt, but that didn't change the fact that he was still very exhausted from removing all that snow.

"You spread Spring to all the parts of the world that need it now, just like I spread Winter everywhere when it needs snow. I travel around the world by riding the Wind. It carries me to where I need to go." he explained.

"Ohh," Lillian said, once again impressed. "But how do I move around? I don't ride the wind, do I?"

Jack shrugged.

"I didn't really know the spirit of spring that was before you, so I don't know. I guess you just concentrate on your powers and where you want to go. Just.. I don't know, close your eyes and concentrate hard on your powers. Then think really hard about where you'd like to go, and you'll go there. I think."

At Jack's words, Lillian closed her eyes. She wasn't certain what her power felt like, but she concentrated really hard on Spring, and all the feelings that went along with it. Hope, life, flowers. Warm (but not too warm), a light spring breeze.

Jack looked around as a light spring breeze blew in from nowhere. A light glowing caught his attention and he looked at Lillian to see a flowery bracelet he hadn't noticed was glowing. As he watched it, the glowing became brighter.

Spring flowers started to grow around Lillian's feet as the few flakes that clung to the ground melted. A particularly big pink tulip loomed up behind Lillian, and Jack looked at it hesitantly.

"Uh.. Lillian.."

Lillian kept concentrating really hard, as the tulip grew to be _really_ big.

To Jack, the giant flower looked ominous and to his horror, the flower bent down and _ate_ the suddenly screaming Child of Spring.

The flower quickly shrunk back into the ground leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

Jack stared at the suddenly Lillian-free spot.

She was gone.

* * *

Pitch paced his lair uneasily. He usually slept during the day, but this uneasy feeling kept him from feeling tired as he usually did during the day.

He knew something was wrong. He just knew it. He could feel it in his bones. Several times he thought of just taking a peek through the shadows, but he shook his head at himself. He couldn't become the sort of person who _hovered._ He wasn't that sort of person.

Besides, Lillian wasn't even his child. Not really. He glanced over at the darker shadows gathered in the corner and thought maybe a little peek couldn't hurt.

No.

No.

No hovering!

No..

He glanced at the corner again.

A peek couldn't hurt.

Not really.

A small one.

More like a glance.

Glancing was not hovering, right?

With that thought in mind, Pitch walked over to the shadows, merging himself with them.

Golden eyes appeared outside and he winced at the harsh daylight. He looked around outside the lair, and spotted the telltale signs of Lillian having played around there.

His lips twitched a little as he moved from one shadow to the next, looking around for Lillian. His amusement soon turned to panic as he realized he couldn't find her.

Where was she?!

Then he heard it. Frantic calling.

Someone was frantically calling for..

"Lillian?!" Jack said, freaking out. "Where are you!?"

 _Why_ was a _boy_ calling out _his_ Lillian's name?

He quickly traveled through the shadows and his golden eyes appeared on a tree that had a shadow cast on it by another tree.

He could see it was the winter spirit looking around frantically in a small spot that was filled with wild flowers.

Flowers.. So Lillian had been standing there.

But where was she now?

As he thought that, he noticed that by the lake a particularly large tulip was growing. As golden eyes widened in astonishment, the tulip quickly grew to giant proportions and with what can only be described as a 'patooey!' sound, the flower spit Lillian out onto the ice of the lake.

Lillian screamed as she landed in a belly flop onto the ice and was sent skidding right out into the middle of the small lake.

She fell limp and just laid there completely in shock. Some.. some _thing_ ate her and spit her back out again.

A small whimper escaped her. Was it a monster? Do monsters eat spirits?

While she was busy panicking, she felt a cold winter breeze nearby, and pale bare feet landed on the ice in front of her. A mop of white hair fell into her vision, followed by the worried face of Jack Frost.

"Are you alright?" he asked shakily.

Lillian sat up and took a deep breath, as the wind had been knocked out of her. She nodded and after a minute of getting her breath back she looked up at Jack, sitting on the ice.

"Wh-what was that?" she asked, her voice timid.

Jack looked more concerned as he heard her small voice. She looked _scared._

As Pitch was still watching her from the shadows, her fear sang out to him, as it always seemed to.

 _I don't want the monster to eat me!_

With a soft chuckle at that, Pitch withdrew from the shadows. Lillian was safe, for now. And as far as he knew, Frost was harmless.

In a way it was sort of a blessing in disguise that the very first spirit she had come across was Jack Frost. He was a fellow seasonal spirit and could help Lillian learn how to master her powers.

He would never admit it, but the thought of helping Lillian train her powers had him feeling a little helpless. Not that he wasn't capable, of course, but his powers were very different from a seasonal's. So much so that it might be difficult to try and help Lillian realize her full potential.

Still.. it made him a little uneasy that she was so easily spotted by a spirit the very first time she ventured from his lair.

He was also curious as to why a giant flower spit Lillian out, but he figured he could solve that mystery by asking her when she came home.

As Lillian sat on the ice, Jack explained to her about the Giant Tulip of Doom that had seemingly eaten her and vanished back into the ground. It then proceeded to reappear by the lake and spit her back out.

Lillian looked startled at this, not noticing the slightly mushy feeling as the ice began to melt under her.

"I was thinking about traveling to the lake!" she exclaimed. "Is _that_ how I travel? A really big flower EATS me?!"

Jack had to grin at that.

"Looks like it, kiddo."

Lillian shook her head. A giant flower.. Well, she was the spirit of spring.

But still. A giant flower?

She stood and suddenly realized that the ice felt strange. Was ice supposed to be this mush-

For the second time a scream was torn from Lillian as the ice gave way under her and she fell.

Jack's mouth fell open in an 'O' of surprise. All at once this horrific scene seemed familiar and yet, unfamiliar.

Had this happened before?

Before he could even think about what he was doing, Jack dove into the hole after her.

He had to save his new friend.

* * *

Author's Note: Don't kill me! I couldn't help it! I originally was going to end this chapter when the flower ate Lillian, but didn't want to be that mean. Then I decided Lillian wouldn't want to travel too far and the lake was right there.. Of course she would go there. And getting eaten and spit out is a pretty good distraction from the fact she was on ice and she seems to melt snow and ice just by staying in one spot.

Poor Lillian! And Jack! Will he save her in time?

Or will it be Pitch to the rescue!

Stay tuned to the next episode to find out! Uh.. I mean.. chapter. Yes, next chapter! Sorry there was no Guardian interactions. I promise they'll be there soon. And yes, Pitch is a bit hovery. I can totally see him being a super overprotective parent. Maybe if not with Jack (if he decides to help Jack out) but definitely with Lillian. Let me know what you thought of the chapter and you can still chime in on the Pitch/Jack thing, since it's not set in stone yet.

Oh, and I have to say I was a little disappointed nobody picked up on the Peter Pan reference in the last chapter. Oh well.. Also Lillian's flowers are from Ferngully: The Last Rainforest if you missed it in the disclaimer. I might borrow small things from other books/movies, so keep an eye out for references!

 **Edit:** I found a bazillion things to correct, especially italics, so if you see any (italics)stuff here(italics), I'm addressing it. Sorry!


	5. Chapter 5: New Believer

Author's Note: I felt bad leaving you guys on such a cliffhanger, so I did a mini-chapter. I don't consider this a full chapter, since it's so short. And once again, thanks to all the reviews, faves, etc. 500 views already! I'm super impressed. :) You guys rock. Also, thanks for the suggestion on the plot. I considered having Pitch hear the scream, but I couldn't resist him having another debate with himself. As for the Giant Tulip of Doom: I considered having Lillian travel through the warm air of spring, but then I realized if she was ever going to travel with Jack, warm air meeting cold air constantly = bad. So I made up the giant tulip instead. I figure traveling through the ground would suit her, since Bunny is associated with spring and he travels through the ground as well.

Also, I realize I kinda screwed up on what time of day it is. The Guardians assemble at night, but Lillian ventures out during the daytime to visit Jack and sees the sleigh leaving.. SIGH. Let's just.. ignore that, shall we?

Chapter Five: New Believer

Cold. Mind numbingly cold.

The water under the ice was so very cold. It felt like knives stabbing her when she went under.

Her eyes opened wide under the water. The lake was very deep and as she sank more, the water got darker.

She never told Pitch, since he liked the darkness so much, but she was sort of afraid of it. To her, it held monsters that were waiting to grab her.

So when she saw that never ending expanse of darkness below her, she did what any child would do.

She panicked.

She started to flail around, but her cloak that once kept her so warm, now was dragging her down even more as it had become waterlogged and wrapped around her, inhibiting her movements.

Her struggles which were once so frantic became weaker and things started to get a lot darker than they were.

Just as her eyes were starting to close, a hand grabbed a hold of the hood of her cloak and yanked her upwards.

She felt herself being shoved through the small hole she had accidentally created on the ice and she flopped over onto the ice limply.

There was another splash and then someone was roughly whacking her on the back.

She suddenly found herself coughing up water and afterwards taking great big gulps of air. The cold chill that was still lingering in the air suddenly hit her and she began to shiver uncontrollably.

When she realized that she had almost drowned, she burst into tears. She flinched when arms scooped her up and encircled her. But instead of finding herself in a warm embrace, she only felt more cold and shivered violently.

Jack, who was holding Lillian close to try to warm and comfort her, looked guilty.

"Sorry.. All I can do is keep you cold."

Lillian sniffled and looked up with tearful emerald eyes to see Jack's worried blue ones looking down at her.

"..I.. I w-want.." she stuttered as she continued to shivering.

"What do you want?" Jack asked quickly.

Lillian's lip trembled as she spoke.

"..I want P-Pitch..!" she wailed.

Jack blinked.

Wait a minute..

"The _Boogeyman?_ You want HIM?"

Lillian nodded and buried her face into Jack's sweatshirt. She still hadn't stopped shivering and Jack knew she had to get warm quickly. Spirit or not, they could still get sick and Jack didn't want his friend to get sick because he kept her talking on the ice.

More guilt welled up in him as he realized he didn't know what to do. Why did Lillian want the Boogeyman of all people? He held her closer as the panic started to well up in him.

What was he going to do?!

* * *

Pitch had no sooner stepped out of the shadows back into his lair when he had the strong feeling that he should go back. He shook his head.

No, he didn't need to keep spying on Lillian.

Absolutely not.

No.

Maybe a peek?

No.

A peek is not hovering.

Just a quick one to assure himself that she was fine.

Alright.

A quick peek.

He sighed exasperatedly at his inner monologue. Was this absolutely necessary? Maybe.. He still had that nagging feeling. The last time a giant flower was spitting Lillian out. Did this nagging feeling mean anything?

With an inward shrug and him insisting to himself that this was _not_ a sign of weakness, he went back into the shadows.

Golden eyes appeared on the tree and looked around.

When he arrived last time, Lillian was sent sprawling onto the ice and Frost was near the lake, looking around frantically. Now there was no Lillian or Jack. He squinted. There was something out on the ice.

He moved to the shadow of a tree that was closer to the lake and the golden eyes looked startled. There was a small hole in the ice and Frost's staff, the staff he never went without was laying near the hole, as if it had been carelessly tossed aside.

And for the first time in a very long time, he felt afraid.

As the feeling began to grow stronger, Lillian was suddenly shoved through the hole and flopped over onto the ice. He could feel his own panic welling up inside of him when he saw she wasn't breathing.

Before he could work himself up into too much of a panic, Frost came up through the hole and sprawled next to Lillian, coughing harshly.

He looked incredibly exhausted and there was a lingering fear in his eyes. Pitch could tell that Jack was afraid of the water under the ice, but he didn't know why. As Jack began to whack Lillian's back - (what on Earth was the idiot boy doing?!) - he could feel another fear well up in Jack.

The feeling of helplessness and the fear that Lillian wouldn't make it and it'd be all his fault.

Pitch however, ignored this as he stared at Lillian.

When she began coughing, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He'd only known her for a short time, but she had already wormed her way into his heart. He wasn't quite sure how, but he knew he would do anything to protect her.

Protect..

He mentally shook his head. What was he, a Guardian? Absurd.

He was shaken from his thoughts when he saw Lillian start to shiver. He frowned as he thought of how exactly to get to her. They were out in the middle of lake, with no shadows around.

When Lillian cried out for him, he suddenly realized something. _Their_ shadows!

As Jack Frost continued to hold his friend, he was startled when a long arm reached up through his own shadow and yanked him back into it by his hood.

Wait.

His own shadow?!

* * *

Pitch stepped through the shadows into his lair, dragging Jack Frost by his hood, and by extension Lillian too, since Jack was still holding her.

With a glare at Jack, Pitch let go of his hood and immediately scooped poor Lillian up into his arms. He turned to Jack, who was gaping at him.

"You. Stay put." he commanded.

He strode from the room, leaving Jack all alone.

Jack stared after Pitch. What was that all about? And how did he get kidnapped through his _own_ shadow? That wasn't possible, was it?

Apparently it was.

He shook his head and looked around curiously. They were in some sort of large cavern that was dimly lit through the entrance to Pitch's lair. He saw a large black globe, with a lot of golden lights shining on it, and apparently a couple blue ones. As he walked toward it to examine it more closely, he noticed that both of the blue lights were very close to each other, near Burgess.

One blue light was very dim, but the other shone brightly.

Jack didn't realize it, but he had just gained a very new, very strong believer.

* * *

Back at the Pole, the Guardians were about to leave their separate ways as Tooth still had teeth to worry about and Sandy had to spread dreams in the parts of the world that were dark.

Before they could leave though, Bunny made an observation as he had taken to studying the blue lights on the globe again. He wouldn't admit it, but this mystery was really bothering him.

"What the.. Hey! The lights are really close and one is shining very brightly!" he said as he stared at the globe.

The other Guardians hurried over. They looked at the globe, then at themselves. What had happened to change the belief of one of the blue lights so drastically?

* * *

Pitch walked back into the large cavernous part of his lair that he had left Frost in. He noticed Jack was looking at his globe and he frowned.

"I thought I told you to stay put," he said calmly while still managing to convey his unhappiness at Jack not managing to sit still for five minutes.

Jack jumped and looked over to see that Pitch was by himself. He held his staff a little defensively.

"Where's Lillian? What did you do with her?"

Pitch's eyes narrowed. Was this _boy_ actually suggesting that he did something to Lillian?

Oh no.

No he didn't.

Pitch _stalked_ towards the suddenly nervous winter spirit, his hands curled into fists at his sides.

" _My_ Lillian is currently in her bed after changing into something that won't give her pneumonia," he said to Jack, his voice as frigid as a glacier. "Now.. why don't you explain to me exactly how she got into that lake, Frost. And so help me, if the words 'I didn't mean to' come up I will curse you into oblivion!"

Jack visibly flinched at the thought. Pitch was gaining power as the years went on and he knew that Pitch could very easily give him nightmares that would make adults weep.

He hurriedly explained all about trying to help Lillian with her powers and how she somehow transported herself to the lake via The Giant Tulip of Doom, and how she had sat on the ice for too long, thus melting it and -

Pitch held up a hand to halt Jack's increasingly rambling explanation and sighed.

"Very well.. You didn't intentionally try to drown her." he said more calmly.

He normally wouldn't have taken Frost at his word, but Frost's fear of what Pitch would do to him called out to Pitch, and he could tell that Jack was telling the truth.

"I suppose.." he said with the slightest hesitation, "..I should thank you for saving her."

Jack stared at Pitch.

 _What?_

* * *

Author's Note: I swear that Pitch and Jack weren't going to interact so soon, but this little chapter ran away on me. I'm thinking it's probably going to take a long time before Pitch even thinks about being nicer to Jack. But it might happen eventually. I was thinking about the movie, and I sort of came up with a reason for Pitch to go on a rampage. It's a bit more noble than his movie reasons. :) That's all I'll say. If you have any plot suggestions or anything to comment on, just leave a review! I promise I'll take any suggestions into consideration, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll use them.

 **Edit:** Added on the family tag, since it seems to be turning into more of a family thingy. :)


	6. Chapter 6: Pitch's Rules

Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews. As for the guest reviewer who informed me about Pitch being involved in destroying Bunny's entire race.. My face was Jack's face at the end of chapter 5. Sooo.. thanks for the info, but I think I'll stick with movie Pitch. Anyway, not much to say about this chapter. I felt guilty for not updating for awhile, since I updated a little early last time. This chapter is fairly short and more or less a filler chapter. Next chapter will get into some fluff with Pitch and Lillian, and Jack spending time with his friend. I really am going to skip time eventually, but I'm having too much fun with current events. This will _eventually_ get into the movie, but it's safe to say that it'll take awhile.

Chapter Six: Pitch's Rules

Jack stared at Pitch, eyes wide in disbelief.

Pitch took in Jack's expression and rolled his eyes.

"You'll catch flies, Frost," Pitch said dryly.

Jack had blushed and promptly found the floor rather interesting.

"Erm.." he said eloquently.

Pitch couldn't _wait_ to hear what else the winter spirit came up with.

"Perhaps before you decide what to proceed with, you can explain to me exactly _why_ Lillian was with you in the first place, especially when I forbade her to spend any time around strange spirits." Pitch said to Jack, his tone becoming slightly dangerous at the end.

He didn't think Jack needed the threatening tone, really, but he did have a reputation to uphold after all.

Jack looked affronted at being referred to as a 'strange spirit.'

"Well, why is she with the _Boogeyman?_ "

Pitch frowned at Jack, disliking the accusatory tone that the boy was adopting. Who was he to decide that he, Pitch, was unworthy of a child?

After all, Frost was a child himself!

Wait a minute..

Pitch eyed Jack, for once looking past his annoying exterior and noticing how young Jack really looked.

Like a teenager, really. Certainly not an adult.

Technically still a child.

It was notoriously known throughout the spirit world that Jack Frost was a loner. He was somewhat the odd spirit out, as he didn't really socialize with the other spirits much.

Pitch chose to ignore exactly who _that_ reminded him of. He mentally shook his head. What did it matter if Frost was still a child? He was a strange spirit, and that was that!

Then Pitch remembered that he needed someone to help Lillian with her spring powers and he inwardly grumbled.

"That," he finally said, "is none of your concern. What is _my_ concern however is that for some reason, she decided to befriend you. Seeing as she nearly drowned in your presence - "

"Hey, I SAVED her!" Jack glared at Pitch.

It certainly wasn't his fault that Lillian got spit out onto the frozen lake and fell through!

"True," Pitch reluctantly conceded. "And since you are a seasonal spirit, I'm assuming you would somewhat know how to help Lillian control her powers. They are somewhat the same, even if they're for different seasons, correct?"

Jack eyed Pitch warily. He was a little confused about the topic change. How did Pitch go from threatening him, blaming him for Lillian's near drowning and then start to talk about powers?

He thought about what Pitch just said, running the last few seconds back through his mind.

Oh.

Lillian didn't know anything about her powers! And she better learn, so accidents like that didn't happen again. It was a matter of her safety after all.

He narrowed his eyes at Pitch.

Wait a second..

"Since when did _you_ start caring about kids?" Jack asked, his tone a little accusing.

Pitch scoffed at this.

"If you don't know how to help her - "

Jack cut him off.

"I never said that! It's just.. why is she staying with you?"

Pitch looked at the intense glare Jack was giving him and inwardly sighed.

"I saw Lillian become a Child of Spring," he finally admitted, much to Jack's surprise. "I thought for certain that those _Guardians_ would come fetch her, since they protect all children. They never came. I should have realized, since they obliviously haven't done anything for you," he spat bitterly.

"M-me?" Jack stammered. "Why would they help me?"

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"You obviously aren't an adult, Frost. Why else would you childishly pull pranks on everyone you can? You must be the only spirit to get on Cupid's bad side, and that's saying something."

Jack flushed a little at his reminder of a prank gone wrong on Cupid. The spirit was out helping love along in a park, when he got a snowball to the face. It was an accident. Really. The fact that the arrow that Cupid was shooting went off course to an eighty year old man wasn't in the slightest bit hilarious.

Jack might have gotten away with it, but he was laughing so hard he fell out of his tree.

Jack swore next time he'd prank a spirit that couldn't fly.

"But I'm not a _little_ kid!" Jack insisted. Then he paused, thinking about poor Lillian. "They really never came for her?"

Pitch glowered, but not at Jack this time.

"She had absolutely no one, so I took her home."

Jack grinned a bit at that, all suspicion gone.

"Who knew the Boogeyman had a soft spot?"

Pitch turned his glare back on Jack.

"If you say ONE word, Frost - "

Jack, who had opened his mouth to say more than a few words, promptly snapped it shut.

"Good," Pitch said with satisfaction. "Now, if you're going to be helping Lillian with her powers, there'll be some ground rules."

Jack couldn't stay silent at this.

"I don't need any rules! I can be careful!" he insisted.

Pitch didn't look convinced.

"She fell through a lake," he reminded Jack none too gently.

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Again, not my fault."

Pitch chose to ignore this childish teenage bout of stubborness.

"First, no practicing whatever that giant flower is near the lake or any body of water." Pitch rose his voice over Jack's protests that it wasn't his fault. "Second, you are to stay around town or the forest. I WILL know if you've disobeyed me, and believe me, you don't want to know what the consequences are. First and foremost, Lillian must learn to control her powers. So before you try and get her into any tomfoolery, she must learn to spread Spring. I understand that eventually she'll have to visit other countries and travel the world, but for now I want her to stay around here. Especially during the daytime."

Jack half-listened to Pitch's rules. Blah blah blah, don't do fun things, work work work, blah blah.. Don't leave the area, blah blah..

Boooring.

Jack nodded at what Pitch was saying, feigning a look of interest.

Pitch looked a little suspicious at this very interested look, but continued on.

"If you must venture into town, I want you to watch for the townspeople. Lillian knows that for now, she's not to venture to town on her own. I've warned her about the people walking through her, but I'd rather she not experience this. However, given Lillian's current state, I doubt that she'll be leaving her bed for the next few days."

Jack looked concerned at this.

"She'll be okay, right?"

Pitch nodded, his expression serious.

"She'll be fine, but I don't need her catching a cold. So for now, you go.. spread Winter somewhere." Pitch said dismissively.

Jack was mid-nod before he stopped. He just had an entire conversation with the _Boogeyman_ and it went.. alright. Sure there were some threats, and Pitch was talking like a boring adult, but.. he almost sounded.. _normal_.

Then Jack grinned a bit.

"Whatever you say, Pitch," Jack said with a playful smirk.

Pitch was about to say something about Jack's look when he suddenly received a snowball to the face.

Before he could finish wiping the snow off his face, he heard the sound of Jack Frost's merry laugh and the wooshing sound of the wind carrying Jack out of his hideout.

Oh he would _pay._


	7. Chapter 7: Nurse Pitch & Teacher Jack

Author's Note: I felt bad about my incredibly short update, so.. I updated again! Now, don't expect updates so soon like this. Since I updated so soon, if you haven't read it yet, go back and read Chapter 6 before this one. Also, a big thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed! Oh, and Crossover Junkie, it's alright. I was a little horrified to find out that Pitch was super evil like that, but I should've realized. Anyway, I really appreciate your background info and suggestions for the plot. They really help me a lot!

As for this chapter.. you get some Pitch fluff and some Jack and Lillian fluff. And yes, I know this fic is super cute. :) I want it that way! I would've made it longer, but it seemed too good a place to end it. Sorry for the somewhat cliffhanger again. Dun dun duuuun.

 **Edit:** Sorry, only half the chapter was posted. Whoops!

Chapter Seven: Nurse Pitch & Teacher Jack

The next day however, all plans for revenge were put on hold when Pitch went to check on Lillian.

She had slept late, missing breakfast. This might not seem too unusual, but from the few days she had been there, he knew she usually awoke at an ungodly hour. Which of course meant that he had to too, to make sure that she wouldn't try and make herself breakfast.

He can still remember the mess _that_ made.

As he entered Lillian's room, he could see she was still in bed. She had the normal amount of covers back on her bed, since she was no longer in danger of hypothermia, and he could see she was buried under them.

He made his way over and gently pulled the covers down to reveal her flushed face. She looked very warm, but she had never looked this warm before.

Frowning, he bent down and felt her forehead. He quickly pulled his hand away, looking surprised. She was burning up!

Pitch's touch woke her up and Lillian opened her eyes, looking up at him miserably.

"I don't feel - " she paused, scrunching her face.

Pitch leaned in closer.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly.

"ACHOO!" Lillian sneezed in reply.

As she sneezed, her bracelet suddenly glowed and Pitch pulled away with his hair full of flowers.

He was not amused.

He spent the rest of the day taking care of a very cranky spring spirit with her powers out of control.

Apparently when spirits got sick, it affected their powers. Or perhaps it was because Lillian had so little control over hers. Whatever the reason, her room now looked like a flower field and every time Pitch went to check on her, he left looking like a mascot for spring.

He had looked through some old books he had, but he didn't have anything on how to treat a sick spirit.

So he mimicked what he saw parents do for their own children. He kept her in bed and covered, gave her a lot of soup and made sure she had plenty to drink.

He was so busy looking after her that he forgot that Jack Frost would probably be stopping by tomorrow. Pitch had said a few days, but if he had thought about it, Jack would probably take that to mean two days and show up expecting Lillian to go play with him.

Pitch was a little worried about leaving her to spread his nightmares, so he did something he hadn't done in decades - he shirked his duties.

The children of Burgess would undoubtfuly be grateful, if they knew.

The next day was much like the last, Pitch checked on Lillian very early, to find her fast asleep.

Her fever didn't seem as bad thankfully, so he was hopeful that she'd be better soon.

Just as he turned to leave however, he heard a very famiilar "achoo!" and suddenly found his hair full of flowers _again_.

If that wasn't bad enough, when he went back to his globe room to recuperate from this latest bout of spring magic, he heard a familiar voice calling out for Lillian.

Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed a vacation.

As he was contemplating on pretending not to be home to avoid seeing a certain winter spirit, he felt the rush of cold winter air and before he could clear the flowers from his hair, he heard Jack's laughter.

Jack burst out laughing as soon as he saw Pitch.

"Trying out a new look?" he smirked at Pitch.

Pitch glared at Jack, fully aware that the flowers were quickly ruining his frightening reputation with the boy.

Pitch opened his mouth to explain exactly where the flowers had come from, but then stopped.

This would be _perfect_.

"I take it you've come to see Lillian?" he asked instead, ignoring Jack's laughter.

"Of course!" Jack exclaimed. "We have a lot of practicing to do, after all."

"Then allow me," Pitch said with his own smirk.

He then shoved a very surprised Jack into a shadow.

Jack stumbled out of the shadow that was in a corner of a room and looked around.

Lillian's room actually looked pretty nice, except for the flowers that were _everywhere_.

"J-Jack?" Lillian sat up a bit, rubbing her eyes. "Is that you?"

Jack turned to see Lillian sitting up a bit on her rock bed.

"Sure is!" He said with a smile, as he walked over by her bed.

His smile faded when he saw she was flushed and still in her night gown.

"Are you - "

"ACHOO!"

Lillian's sneeze cut him off and he suddenly found himself blasted with spring magic.

As Lillian sheepishly apologized, Jack heard a voice from the doorway.

"Trying out a new look, Frost?" Pitch said, looking smug and leaning against the entrance to Lillian's room. "Pink suits you."

Jack flushed and hastily brushed the pink flowers out of his hair.

"You didn't tell me she was sick!" Jack said accusingly to Pitch.

Pitch smirked.

"Now what would be the _fun_ in that?"

Jack stared at Pitch.

Did Pitch Black, a.k.a. the _Boogeyman_ just play a prank on him?

At Jack's silence, Pitch went back into what Jack dubbed as 'adult mode.'

"Now, as Lillian is recovering from a cold, you really shouldn't stay long," he held up a hand to ward off protests as both Jack and Lillian looked dismayed, "However, if you can behave yourself, you're welcome to stay for a _short_ visit."

"Yay!" Lillian cheered with a big grin, before coughing a bit. She hated being sick.

"I'll be back in awhile with some soup," Pitch said to Lillian, while giving Jack his scariest glare, to get the boy to behave.

Jack gave Pitch a grin, proving that Pitch was about as frightening to him as a puppy now.

Looking very disgruntled, Pitch left the room.

When he returned a half an hour later with a bowl of soup on a tray, he paused in the doorway at the sight before him.

Jack was perched on the edge of Lillian's bed, telling her a story. He spread his arms wide to mimic flight.

"So Peter Pan spread some of Tinkerbell's fairy dust onto Wendy and her brothers and told them to think of happy thoughts," he said to Lillian, who was enthralled.

"Any happy thought?" she asked, propped up by her fluffy pillow.

"Any happy thought," Jack confirmed. "So Wendy's brothers jumped off the bed, thinking their happiest thoughts and they _flew_."

"Wow!" Lillian said with a smile. "I wish I could fly."

Just what he needed, Pitch thought. She had enough problems when she was on the ground.

"Can I fly?" she asked Jack eagerly. "You fly with your wind.. I could fly with mine, right?"

Jack shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Spring isn't known for its strong winds, really. Spring is more soft breezes. Besides, you have your giant flower." he looked thoughtful as he responded to her. "But I should be able to have you fly with me. Wind can carry the both of us."

Lillian was about to say how cool that would be, when Pitch interrupted.

" _Certainly_ not," he said as he stepped into the room.

He gave the pair of them a stern look.

"You got a cold from falling into a lake. I won't have you surrounded constantly by a chilly winter wind," he said in his no-nonsense tone.

Jack traded a look with Lillian. Pitch was in adult mode again.

Pitch ignored their exchange and gently set the tray down on Lillian's lap.

"Now eat up, you need your strength back. And absolutely no flying once you're better. You shouldn't need to fly anyway, as Ja- _Frost_ has agreed to stay around town and the forest.

It took a moment for this to register and Lillian's eyes lit up.

"We can go into town?" she asked, that spark of excitement flaring up in her, despite her cold.

Pitch nodded, eying her warily.

"Only if you have Frost as an escort, and _only_ to try and spread Spring around. Burgess is going to be your training ground of sorts. They're used to strange weather, so it won't bother them as much as other towns. Once you can spread Spring more professionally, then we'll see about you going other places."

Lillian grinned at that and began to eat her soup.

* * *

Jack visited Lillian every single day for about a week, much to Pitch's annoyance. He wouldn't have minded it so much, but Jack was starting to treat _his_ lair as a second home.

Not to mention there was that one day when Jack actually made it snow in his globe room.

He was _not_ amused.

But finally the day came when Lillian was declared well, so instead of barging into the hideout as had become the norm for Jack, he was outside with Lillian once again, with Pitch's warning that if there was ONE snowflake in his lair or if Lillian had ONE hair out of place, he would _**pay**_.

Jack had taken Lillian off into the woods to practice her powers once again. He decided it would be best if they didn't practice by his lake.

"Alright," Jack said in a serious voice, although his eyes were sparkling with happiness at being able to be outside with his friend again, "Now we're going to try and make it spring in this area."

Lillian looked around. The forest already had green grass and the temperature wasn't that cold.

"Isn't it already spring here?" she asked.

"We're going to make it _more_ spring," Jack replied.

"Now concentrate on your powers and.. uh.. _believe_ it will be spring."

With a shrug, Lillian closed her eyes and thought springy thoughts.

Flowers.

Warm air.

Butterflies.

She opened them, when a soft spring breeze blew in. Wild flowers were starting to bloom all over, and not just where she was standing.

"I did it!" she cheered. "It's Spring!"

As she happily twirled around, her concentration slipped and her bracelet began to grow more brightly.

Even more flowers bloomed, and what was once an idyllic spring scene soon became a jungle of flowers.

The soft spring breeze became stronger and Jack swore it was starting to get cloudy out, when before there hadn't been a cloud in the sky.

"Uh.. Lillian.." he said hesitantly.

"Spriiing~!" Lillian exclaimed, ignoring the overabundance of spring and Jack trying to get her attention.

She finally stopped when she felt the first raindrop.

"Jack..?" she asked as she looked up at the sky.

When did it get so cloudy?

"I should've mentioned once you call up your power, you have to keep concentrating on it," Jack said as it began to rain gently.

Lillian blinked.

"Did I do that?"

Jack nodded.

"I think so. You know how I have power over when it snows? Well, you know the saying.. 'April showers bring May flowers'.. I think you made it rain on accident." he explained.

"Whoops," Lillian said, looking embarrassed.

"At least the trees are sheltering us a bit," Jack said.

The last thing he needed was Lillian to catch cold _again_.

"Why don't you try stopping it?" he asked her. "Just concentrate on your powers again."

Lillian closed her eyes and thought hard about it not raining. Soon the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

Birds began chirping again and the gentle spring breeze came back.

Back in town, there were some very confused people. Sure, they'd had brief showers before, but not ones that lasted for a minute. Where did all the clouds go?

Lillian grinned at Jack as she opened her eyes.

"This is fun!" she declared.

Jack smiled at her. He thought that working on her powers was going to be a bit boring and like work, but he had to admit, it was fun.

"Hey, let's practice your Giant Flower of Doom," he said suddenly.

Lillian giggled.

"Giant Flower of Doom?"

Jack nodded.

"You can use it to get to town! That's away from the lake and you shouldn't get into _too_ much trouble." he said.

"Okay," Lillian agreed.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on flowers again. The flowers at her feet began to grow, and sure enough, a pink tulip was among them.

Soon it grew taller than the others and became very large.

Even though she was expecting it, it still took her by surprise.

When Lillian cried out, Jack called upon the wind to take him to Burgess.

He quickly flew, knowing it would only take Lillian a minute to get there, if her aim was true.

He flew around randomly, until he spotted a giant flower growing out of the sidewalk. He internally winced. That was going to hurt.

Instead of spitting her out on the sidewalk however, the giant flower turned and spit her out onto the front lawn of a nearby house.

It was an old house, looking fairly dilapidated. Lillian stood up, a little wobbly, and brushed grass off her dress. She made a face as it had rained here too and her dress got a little damp.

She looked at the house as she felt the chill of Jack's wind as he descended nearby her. She didn't know why, but this place looked a little familiar to her.

But that couldn't be, could it? She had never been here before.

"Everything okay?" Jack asked a little nervously.

Lillian tore her gaze away from the house and smiled at Jack.

"Yup!" she said happily, all traces of uncertainty leaving her.

It was probably her imagination anyway.

As Jack and Lillian wandered away from the house, they both missed the mumblings of a man inside. The man was mumbling about his stupid, useless daughter who had gone missing.

* * *

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. Next chapter I'm determined to have some Guardians in it. And of course Jack is going to have to get into some mischief with Lillian. I'm not exactly sure when Pitch will talk with the Guardians, but him taunting them about Jack is very appealing to me. Muwhahaha.


	8. Chapter 8: Bunny

Author's Note: Thanks to all the reviews, faves, follows, etc. :) I honestly wasn't expecting to have another update ready to go. I told myself I was just going to work a little bit on the next chapter. I had been vaguely planning on something with Bunny, and then this just popped out of my head. I promise I'll have something non-angsty sometime. Really. Anyway, don't be too mean to Bunny. He means well. He doesn't even like Jack at all at this point, so it's only natural that he try and right what he perceives is a wrong. And yeah, I never thought of Pitch as a stern teacher, but I can see it.

Anyway, I really will try and leave more time between updates. Honest! If you haven't read chapters 6 and 7 yet, go back and read them! I updated super fast!

Chapter Eight: Bunny

While Lillian and Jack were running around Burgess spreading spring, Bunny found himself wondering how Burgess was doing. It had been over a week since that horrible blizzard, and he was concerned for Spring.

He hadn't seen the spring spirit in quite some time, and he felt concerned that Spring might not be on track now thanks to Jack's little blizzard. Sure, the season would naturally get under way eventually, but it would need a little extra boost from a spirit to get past all that snow, even if there was only a few inches left.

He frowned as he puzzled that one out. When he and the other Guardians had gone to talk to Jack, he hadn't noticed it at the time but the snow was actually significantly less than it had been. How could that be? They hadn't seen any sign of the spirit of spring around.

He shook his head, dismissing this thought for now and gazed around his Warren. Easter was over now, for better or worse, and he had some time yet before he had to begin preparations for the next Easter. He would have to make sure Burgess had an extra special Easter now, to make up for this year's disaster.

With that thought in mind, he opened up a tunnel to Burgess and hopped inside. A hole appeared in a park in town and Bunny soon hopped out of it. He looked around and was very surprised.

He had expecting to see a bunch of snow on the ground yet, and for a winter chill to be in the air. While some parts of town still had some snow, a lot of parts of town - including the park, had a definite feeling of Spring to it.

As he looked down at his feet, he could see nothing but grass and a few wild flowers growing here and there. He could even feel a warm breeze carrying the scent of the flowers along. He glanced up at the sky to see that it was lovely blue with not even a hint of a cloud in the sky.

How could this possibly be? Snow did not naturally melt that fast. He furrowed his brow. Had the spring spirit been here after all? The spring spirit usually liked to stop and have a chat with Bunny about the Groundhog's prediction for the year before Easter, so Bunny would know what kind of weather to expect.

It was well known throughout the spirit world that the Easter Bunny did _not_ get along with the Groundhog for some reason. Nobody dared to ask Bunny what had happened, and the Groundhog refused to explain.

So their go-between had always been the spirit of spring. But Bunny hadn't seen him in several years - in fact, Bunny was starting to think that something had happened to the spring spirit.

Now however, was the evidence that the spirit was very much alive. With an annoyed huff, Bunny began to carefully walk around town, looking at the evidence that Spring was very much in season now.

Childish laughter made him smile and he looked over, only to have the smile wiped right off his face.

Right there near the park, was none other than Jack Frost. Bunny narrowed his eyes.

How _dare_ he show his face here again!

Was he trying to wreck Spring now?! He just didn't know when to quit!

Just as Bunny was about to march over there and give that winter spirit a piece of his mind, a little girl ran up to Jack, grinning merrily.

..What? Since when could _he_ be seen?!

"Look~!" she pointed over to where a bunch of wild flowers were growing in the park.

"That's great, kiddo." Jack grinned at her. "Hey, want to have to some fun?"

The girl nodded happily at Jack, and Jack leaned down to whisper in her ear.

Bunny narrowed his eyes again. What was this? He watched, not bothering to hide himself as the girl carefully stepped onto the sidewalk and waited on the side a bit as a man came walking toward her.

Right when he was about to reach her, she quickly jumped off the sidewalk and landed on the soft grass beside the man.

The man looked very startled as suddenly a bunch of wildflowers sprouted up from nowhere. He quickened his pace and soon became very unnerved when the flowers that were sprouting up started _following_ him.

By the time he reached the corner, he was practically running. He turned the corner and took off in a sprint, not looking back.

Lillian stopped at the corner and burst into a fit of giggles at the silly man.

Bunny stood staring at her with mouth open. That kid just made flowers spring up from the ground by _running_ on it.

Wait a second..

Was this _kid_ the new Spirit of Spring?

He quickly shifted his gaze over to a grinning Jack Frost. Oh he knew it. He knew exactly what Frost was up to!

He marched over to Jack whose grin quickly vanished at the sight of an enraged Bunny.

What had he done now?

"H-hey, Bunny." Jack said, trying to summon a nonchalant smirk.

He was halfway successful.

"Don't 'hey' me!" Bunny said scornfully. "I see what yer up ta mate. I gotta tell ya, I thought yeh were better'n that."

Completely bewildered, Jack looked at Bunny, openly confused.

"Oh don't play stupid with me!" Bunny shouted. "I know yeh didn't have any sense of responsibility, but ta try and corrupt the spirit of spring!"

Jack's trademark smirk hitched itself onto his face, even if his eyes did look a bit hurt. He should've known that running around making it spring in Burgess would draw Bunny's attention.

He turned to where Lillian was still giggling away at the corner.

"Hey, Lillian!" Jack called to her. "Come here!"

"Coming!" Lillian called back as she ran over.

She slowed down when she saw Jack was talking to a giant rabbit and stopped a short distance away, her eyes widening.

He was _big_.

Bunny turned to look at the girl. His harsh glare softened as he gazed at her. She looked so young!

"This here is the Easter Bunny," Jack explained as Lillian's eyes grew wider at that. "So tell him, am I corrupting you?"

Lillian tilted her head at that.

"What's.. cor.. corrupt.. thingy?" she asked Bunny, looking up at him in innocent confusion.

Bunny had the sense to look a little abashed. She was so innocent! But then he paused. That just made what Jack was doing all the more dastardly!

"He's tryin' ta get ya ta think Winter's the best, and he doesn't want ya to spread Spring in Burgess. That's what 'corrupting' is," Bunny explained gently to her while shooting Jack a glare.

Lillian scrunched her face in confusion.

"No he's not," she said to Bunny. "He's help - "

"'Course he is!" Bunny interrupted her, raising his voice. "That's all he is!"

He pointed an accusing finger at Jack.

"He makes a mess wherever he goes!"

Lillian's expression had gone from wide-eyed awe, to confusion, and now she was frowning at Bunny, looking thoroughly disenchanted.

"No he doesn't!" she shouted back at Bunny. "Jack is the bestest spirit EVER! He's helping me to learn how to _spread_ spring!"

Bunny rolled his eyes at this.

"Look, ya don't even know what yer talkin' about. Why don't yeh come with me to my Warren if ya need ta practice yer powers. I know more about Spring than he could ever hope to!"

Hurt pooled in Jack again. He should've known that it would turn out this way. It had been centuries since he had been able to have _anyone_ beside the Wind that he could call a friend, and now Bunny of all spirits shows up to take her away from him.

Why shouldn't he? He was the _Easter Bunny_ , he knew all about spring and probably how to spread it as well.

And what was he? Jack Frost, troublemaker. Winter spirit, outcast.

He was nobody.

Jack looked down, letting his bangs cover his eyes.

He was startled when he felt a small hand slip into his and give his hand a gentle squeeze.

" _No,_ " Lillian said vehemently, glaring at Bunny. "Jack is my friend!"

Bunny scoffed.

"Friend? Listen kid, Winter and Spring spirits are not friends. Now come on, let's get ta the Warren," he said reaching out for Lillian.

Lillian shrank back from Bunny's paw. Pitch hadn't said what to do if this happened. It had never occurred to Pitch that a spirit might try to take Lillian away from him, even if they didn't know that she lived with Pitch.

"..I.. I don't wanna.." Lillian said uncertainly, squeezing Jack's hand harder.

"Look ya anklebiter, I ain't gonna hurt ya," Bunny said a little impatiently. "I just wanna help ya. I can help ya better'n he can."

With that, he reached out and yanked Lillian over to him. Lillian looked over at Jack with frightened eyes as Bunny tapped his foot on the ground.

Just as Bunny was going to hop into the hole however, he felt a sudden jerk on his hand and looked back to see that the kid had completely disappeared.

He frowned at Jack, who was staring at the spot Lillian had been with a surprised look on his face.

"Alright," Bunny demanded. "What did ya do with her?"

* * *

Pitch was pacing around his lair. He was getting that nagging feeling again. Lillian had left earlier that morning to learn about her powers and go spread spring. He had been looking forward to getting a nice long nap in.

He wouldn't admit it to Lillian of course, but ever since she came into his life, sleep had been a luxury.

He went out every night (except when Lillian was sick, of course) to go spread his nightmares, and only returned when the sky was starting to become light with dawn. Instead of collapsing into sleep as he usually would, he now stayed up for a few hours until Lillian awoke.

They both ate breakfast and then he would stay up for a little longer while Frost picked her up for her daily 'spring lesson' and he would have the lair all to himself.

Instead of sleeping however, he would marvel at how suddenly very quiet it was. Then he would sit around in his globe room and try to plot how best to spread the next night's nightmares.

He would soon become distracted by thoughts of what Lillian was up to, however, and before he could even think about exactly what he was doing, he would be spying on Lillian, trying very hard not to feel guilty about it.

It was for her own good after all. She was so young and there was no way he was going to entrust her safety to _Jack Frost_ of all people.

So he would spend the remainder of the afternoon spying on her, and it was only after she would return safe and sound, that he would finally catch a small nap before it was time to head out and spread nightmares again.

He gave the corner of the globe room where the darkest shadows were a glance. Normally he would've already started spying, but his conscience was playing with him. And he had that feeling.

That horrible feeling that something was terribly wrong.

If he didn't know any better, he would almost say it was some sort of parental sixth sense acting up.

Rolling his eyes at himself, he went over to the corner and melded with the shadows. After searching around the forest, he soon went from shadow to shadow to find himself in Burgess.

It didn't take him long to locate Jack and Lillian, playing a prank on some unsuspecting man.

He rolled his golden eyes at the sight. Of course that's what the so-called 'lesson' would morph into.

But as he looked around, he couldn't help but notice that despite their childishness, they had done a good job on the town. It looked like there was hardly any snow around now.

As the golden eyes looked around in appreciation from the shadow of tree, he suddenly froze.

The Easter Bunny.

What was he doing, staring at _his_ Lillian?!

And why was he glaring at Ja- _Frost_ that way?

Not that he cared.

Not in the slightest.

As Bunny started yelling at Jack however, he couldn't help moving to the shadow of a tree that was closer to them.

Just in case.

As he watched, Jack called Lillian over to him.

What was the boy playing at?!

Lillian tilted her head in confusion innocently at Bunny, and as the pooka replied, he could clearly see the look on Lillian's face.

Pitch smirked.

Nice job, Easter Bunny.

Down one believer.

Not that it actually mattered. Whether or not other spirits actually believed in beings like the Easter Bunny, the spirit could always see them no matter what.

His eyes narrowed as Bunny reached out for Lillian.

Jack seemed frozen, uncertain on what to do, clearly cowed by the insufferable pooka.

And then before Jack could even think about reacting, the Easter Bunny actually reached over and _dared_ to touch his Lillian and yank her away from Frost.

With a declaration that they were going to the Warren, panic flared up in Pitch as Lillian seemed at a loss on what to do.

They hadn't covered this. He hadn't even considered this being a possibility.

Lillian looked over at Jack for help, but Jack seemed reluctant to cross a Guardian.

So Pitch did what he did best, he moved into a shadow - Lillian's shadow - and reached up while the pooka had his back turned.

Jack stared as a gray hand reached up through Lillian's shadow and yanked her out of Bunny's grasp and down into it.

And just like that, she was gone.

* * *

Pitch stepped out of the shadows in his globe room, holding Lillian in his arms. That was close.

Far too close.

Lillian looked around in confusion and saw that she was in Pitch's arms. As soon as she saw him, she burst into tears.

"Th-the E-Easter Bunny tr-tried to kidnap me..!" she sobbed as she clutched onto Pitch's robes for dear life, as if she was afraid he would disappear on her.

He awkwardly pat her back, not really knowing how to deal with an upset child yet. He was the one who was used to causing children to become upset and afraid. He wasn't used to dealing with the aftermath of it.

Her fear called out to him as he awkwardly continued to pat her back.

 _What if he took me away from Pitch forever?  
_

Pitch's look might have softened just a touch as he heard it. Nobody ever _wanted_ to be around him, and here was a child no less, afraid that she was almost forced to leave him forever.

He murmured to her softly while she cried.

"I would never let you get away from me."

As he continued to comfort the distressed Child of Spring, he heard the telltale woosh of the wind.

Oh _great._

* * *

"What did yeh do with her?" Bunny demanded of Jack.

Jack's attention snapped to Bunny.

"Ah.." he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm warnin' yeh.." Bunny said, taking a step towards Jack.

"Look, the Groundhog!" Jack pointed suddenly, gasping in astonishment.

Bunny looked around.

"Where?!"

He felt a shiver run through him at the feeling of a crisp winter wind blowing by, and heard Jack call out to him as he flew away.

"Later, Bunny!"

Darn it.

Was this all some elaborate prank of the winter spirit's?

Bunny frowned as he surveyed the obvious evidence of spring again, before he hopped into his hole. He left behind a delicate flower on the ground as he raced back to his Warren.

Should he bring this up with the other Guardians at their meeting?

* * *

Jack's grin disappeared as he urged the wind to move faster. He raced as fast as he could to Pitch's lair and didn't even bother trying to be polite as he flew at breakneck speed under the bed and into Pitch's globe room.

In fact, he was going so fast that almost crashed right into Pitch and Lillian.

It was only quick maneuvering on the wind's part that saved him from crashing as he went sailing by Pitch to come to a rough stop near the globe.

He gave a sheepish look at Pitch's admonishing glare, then looked concerned as he saw Lillian clutching at Pitch like a lifeline, sobbing as if she had almost lost a parent.

"Hey," Jack said as he carefully approached her, so as not to startle her. "You okay?"

"Does she look alright to you?" Pitch said a little more harshly than he intended.

Jack flinched at Pitch's tone and turned hurt blue eyes on Pitch.

He thought he had an.. understanding of sorts with Pitch.

Was he not going to be welcome at Pitch's anymore?

 _I'm never going to be able to see my friend again.  
_

Pitch sighed as Jack's fear washed over him.

"Look, Jack.." Pitch said, making sure his tone was a little softer. "Lillian needs some time to herself. And I don't think she'll be leaving here any time soon."

Jack scuffed his foot on the floor, looking ashamed. His friend had almost been taken away from him and Pitch, and he hadn't done a single thing to stop it.

"..Okay.." Jack said softly. "I'll uh.. I'll.. see you later, I guess.."

He turned to leave, and Pitch looked up at the ceiling for help.

All he wanted was one day of calm.

One day, really.

That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

As he felt the coolness of Jack's wind start to enter the lair, Pitch tried his best not to regret this.

"..Wait," he said to Jack.

Jack turned back, not quite looking at Pitch or Lillian.

"Yeah?"

Pitch waved a hand vaguely over towards where he and Lillian ate their meals, off in a room away from the globe room.

"Stay for some tea."

* * *

Author's Note: Pitch would solemnly swear that he's not going soft, but I think Jack's worming his way into Pitch's black heart, just like Lillian has. I'm not sure if Jack will ever have the sort of relationship that Lillian has with Pitch, but I'd like to think Pitch will eventually have a sort of mentor kind of role for Jack. Jack needs someone to set him straight after all. Who better than the King of Nightmares? I'm definitely thinking of having Lillian (maybe Jack too?) meet some more of the Guardians in the future. Any suggestions on who should be next? And should Bunny let the Guardians know about Lillian? I was originally planning on having the Guardians not really know that Lillian was a spring spirit, but that plan flew out the window.

Oh, and don't be confused by the different perspectives. I like backtracking a bit and showing the same scene from Pitch's point of view, when it's his turn to pop up in the fic. I don't know why, it's just the way it comes out. And I had to show what was going on with Jack after Lillian disappeared. I was thinking of continuing on with Jack and Pitch's talk, but this seemed like a good place to end the chapter.


	9. Chapter 9: Tea Time & Sandy

Author's Note: This chapter is the longest one yet! I worked on it on two separate days, so that's probably why it's a little longer. Thanks for the reviews and all the favorites, follows, etc. This fic already has over 1500 views and that is _amazing._ So thanks to everyone who's been reading it! Oh, and I know _nothing_ about tea, but Pitch seemed like a tea drinker to me. So I apologize if there is some tea-related mishap. I hate tea with a passion, so I don't know much about what goes into drinking it.

Chapter Nine: Tea Time & Sandy

Pitch could see that Jack didn't know where to go, so he gently pushed the winter spirit into a shadow.

Jack stepped out of the shadow, surprised to find himself in a dining room of sorts with the words ringing out behind him to _stay put_. So he took a seat at the - was that _stone?_ \- table and tried to wait patiently.

He originally had his staff propped up against a wall, but as the seconds dragged on into minutes, he grabbed his staff again and started absently playing around.

By the time Pitch had gotten Lillian into her room and calmed down enough that he could leave her for awhile, Jack had frosted the table top and it was lightly snowing in the room.

Pitch rolled his eyes at the scene.

"Can't you sit still for _five_ minutes?" he said in the sort of tone an exasperated parent would use.

Jack blushed a little and it suddenly stopped snowing.

"It was more than five!" he said defensively.

Pitch shook his head again.

" _Stay_ ," he said to Jack emphatically, sounding a little like he was commanding a dog.

Jack huffed and crossed his arms as Pitch made his way to the kitchen.

A few minutes later (that felt more like hours to the impatient winter spirit), Pitch returned with two steaming cups of tea.

"You might need to let yours cool," Pitch said, suddenly remembering that hot drinks were probably not very good for winter spirits.

Jack nodded as a tea cup was set down in front of him, and put in a little sugar from the sugar bowl.

After Jack was done with the sugar, Pitch steathily moved the sugar bowl out of Jack's reach. The last thing he needed was a winter spirit hyper from too much tea and sugar zooming around the lair.

He eyed Jack thoughtfully as he stirred some sugar into his own tea, letting it sit for a moment.

"You are aware that she doesn't blame you for anything, correct?" he said finally.

Jack looked up at Pitch quickly, a little startled.

"But - " he started.

Pitch held up a hand for silence, cutting him off.

"She might be a seasonal spirit, but she's just a child, Jack. You know how that wretched pooka looks. He looks intimidating even when he's _not_ in a bad mood. I can also understand you not wanting to cross a Guardian," he continued.

Jack looked like he wanted to speak again, but Pitch beat him to it.

" _However,_ there is the matter of her safety. He's a Guardian of Childhood, I know. But I also know that _none_ of them were there for her when she needed them. As far as I'm concerned, they don't have the right to take her anywhere. They had their chance. I want Lillian to continue her lessons with you, in a few days. Whether you go to town is your choice. But you should know, if you see that.. that.. _Bunny_ again, you will take Lillian and fly as far and fast as you can go. Out of state, out of the country, wherever you deem necessary." Pitch said, his golden eyes gazing intently into frosty blue ones.

Jack, still bubbling with guilt, looked down and nodded.

"You will not tell any spirit whatsoever where Lillian is staying, or where you frequently visit, I might add. She can travel back here using her powers, once she's gotten them under control enough to do so. In the meantime, I've been working on a little something to help her, but it will take quite some time to make. So for now, I'm counting on you to look after her and keep her safe when you do go out with her. Understand?"

Jack nodded again, more to the table than at Pitch.

Pitch took a sip of tea, looking at the boy who was hunched over, white hair shading his eyes.

"..I don't blame you either," he muttered into his cup.

He set it down and spoke more loudly as Jack glanced up at him again.

"But you must be cautious around _them,_ especially Bunnymund. He's known for being rash and he has a notoriously short temper. I wouldn't doubt that he'd try to take Lillian again, and for all his noble intentions I doubt I would ever see her again. I doubt he would let her see _you_ again."

Jack nodded again, then hesitated.

"..Er.. you.. _Lillian's_ not mad at me? For not saving her? I-I was going to! It's just he was so fast.." Jack trailed off.

Pitch sighed.

"No, she's not upset with you. She's upset because a certain Easter Bunny thoughtlessly yelled at her and you, and then while continuing to not listen, he tried to kidnap her. I think.." he said the last a little hesitantly himself, "I think deep down, she was hoping that they would be friends, as she's friends with you. Easter goes hand in hand with Spring, after all. She's quite traumatized, I can feel it. I doubt she'll ever be able to trust as easily as she once did. You're lucky to have her friendship."

He held Jack's gaze.

"Don't do anything to ruin it."

With that ominous note hanging in the air, Jack Frost and Pitch Black drank their tea silently.

* * *

A few days later, the Guardians held their monthly meeting. They had met before, briefly, when they all went to have a talk with Jack Frost but they hadn't had the time to talk about how things were going with their respective jobs.

Bunny was the first to arrive, as usual, and he went to the globe room to check out the blue lights.

He blinked.

Both of those blue lights were very close together near Burgess again. Strange. He sadly noted that one was so very dim and flickering, wavering on the edge of belief. If only they knew who it was! Or _what_ it was.

The other blue light was behaving very strangely. It would grow so dim he was afraid it'd go out, but then it would shine brightly. It was as if the light had stopped believing in them, but then it would change its mind.

As far as he knew, the lights only showed children who believed in the Guardians. Maybe the light's faith was shaken in some of the Guardians, but not all?

He tilted his head with a thoughtful frown as North made his way into the room, plateful of cookies in hand.

"Is confusing no? I notice other day that the blue lights have been very strange," North said as he settled himself down in a chair.

Bunny reluctantly turned away from the globe, furrowing his brow.

Wasn't that around the time when he had a run in with -

Tooth arrived, chattering away at her fairies, causing the incomplete thought to vanish from Bunny's mind.

She smiled brightly at Bunny and North, but the smile dimmed when she saw what North was eating.

"Cookies _again?_ " she said, eying the plate in motherly concern. "That's horrible for your teeth! I hope you brush and floss afterwards."

North chuckled as he finished off a cookie.

"Of course! Is no good that 'Santa' get cavities."

Bunny shook his head at this, thankful that his diet consisted mostly of carrots, so Tooth wouldn't have the chance to get on his case about what he did or didn't eat.

Sandy soon flew in via an open window, gently closing it behind himself so that there wouldn't be a chill in the room.

He waved happily at all of them and settled down on a couch. He saw an elf walk by with a mug of eggnog and happily snagged it from the elf, taking a long drink.

The meeting got underway, with each of them taking turns explaining what all had been going on the past month with their respective jobs.

North happily told everyone that preparations for Christmas were going very well, despite some of the yetis' poor choice of colors for some toys. Phil was currently in the process of repainting some three hundred race cars, and North himself was working on a nice ice prototype for some Disney characters that were quite popular. His goal was eventually to come up with a flying Peter Pan, but he wasn't quite sure how to make this happen mechanically and not magically.

Tooth reported happily about all the lost teeth her fairies had collected, and failed to notice when everyone's attention seemed to waver as she fondly reminisced about the baby tooth one of her fairies had collected the other day.

Sandy let loose a barrage of golden images above his head to happily indicate that dreams seemed to be going quite well and there were no problems.

Lastly, everyone turned to Bunny, who looked more serious than ever. Instead of a rant about a certain winter spirit and how Easter had been almost ruined, he surprised them with what he said next instead.

"Leif's gone missing," Bunny said, with a slight grimace. "I think something must've happened ta him."

Sandy said it best with a big, golden question mark above his head.

"I ran into a couple of spirits when I went ta check on Burgess a few days ago. One of 'em was Jack Frost," Bunny said with a scowl, "and the other was some kid."

"Ah, Jack has believer then?" North said with a smile. "Is doing good now, no? Talk must have been successful!"

"Wait," Tooth said, her eyes widening. "You said a 'couple' spirits."

Bunny sighed, looking annoyed.

"The kid's the new Spirit of Spring. And I don't think it was a coincidence that they were together, at the scene of the crime. Frost's obviously trying ta corrupt her into thinking that Winter is the best season! Just you wait, we'll be up ta our eyeballs in snow next spring!" Bunny said, ranting a little at the end.

"Bunny.." Tooth said, trying to head him off before he got into a proper rant. "What makes you think that? What happened, exactly?"

So Bunny told them mostly what happened.

"So I was going ta take her back ta the Warren, so she could learn about her powers from someone who knows all about spring and the kid started freaking out. Next thing I know, she'd disappeared and Frost took off first chance he got."

North looked thoughtful.

"There are spirits of all ages, but never before has there been a child," he said, completely missing the fact that Jack Frost was not of age when he became a spirit.

"Do you think something happened to her?" Tooth said worriedly. "What if it's Pitch?"

"Bah!" North waved his hand dismissively. "Pitch hasn't been seen since Dark Ages!"

"We should go find her," Bunny said. "Before Frost can get his hands on her again."

Sandy waved his arms, calling the others' attention to him.

He made a golden sand image above his head of a small child, and then someone a little older holding her hand, who had a shepherd's crook.

The meaning was obvious to everyone. The child spirit and Jack Frost.

Bunny suddenly appeared and yanked the girl away from the golden Jack Frost. The two disappeared and golden Jack's shoulders slumped, looking very sad.

"Sandy's right," Tooth said. "What if they're friends? We can't jump to conclusions."

"Friends? _Him?_ " Bunny said incredulously.

He shook his head.

"Alright, say they are friends. That doesn't change the fact she _disappeared_. She could be in serious trouble!"

Sandy waved his hand again and the image of a sleeping child appeared above his head.

"Even spirit who is a child must sleep!" North exclaimed, deciphering the message Sandy was trying to get across. "Sandy can find her through her dreams. If she is dreaming nice thoughts of spring, then Sandy can go to where she is. Easy as pie!"

"Mate, she might not be dreaming about spring at all!" Bunny crossed his arms.

"My fairies can keep an eye out too, when they collect teeth," Tooth offered. "We'll have to be careful when we do find her though, it sounds like you gave her quite a fright, Bunny."

Bunny cringed a little at that.

"It was an accident," he said, his tone regretful. "She kept tryin' ta tell me Frost wasn't up ta no good, but I didn't want to listen. All I could think about was gettin' her away from him and to my Warren."

Sandy shook his finger at Bunny with a frown.

He showed an image of a monstrous Bunny towering over a little girl who was cringing away from him.

"Reckon you're right," Bunny mumbled. "She never saw me before and now I probably seem like somethin' ta be afraid of."

"Is settled then!" North declared. "We keep eye out for spirit and help her if she needs help. In meantime we have no choice but to wait. Now.. what do you think happened to Leif?"

And so the rest of the meeting continued on, with each of them speculating on what could have happened to the former spirit of spring, for them to a need a new one.

* * *

The next evening, Jack Frost was standing outside of Pitch's lair with a very reluctant Child of Spring, and Pitch. Lillian had absolutely refused to go out during the daytime, and Pitch determined that she could go out when it was around sunset. He would have to travel the world spreading nightmares, but he could travel much more freely at night.

With the assurance that Pitch wouldn't be _too_ far away, and that the Easter Bunny definitely wouldn't be out at nighttime, Lillian was finally convinced to go outside.

Pitch had made Lillian take a long nap during the day, so she could stay out later that night. Pitch only allowed this, since she absolutely had to practice her powers and she would be safe with Jack Frost.

He gave Jack a very meaningful look, and Jack recalled their talk the other day about keeping Lillian safe. He nodded to Pitch, a serious look on his face for once and gently rested a hand on Lillian's shoulder.

Pitch's lips quirked in what was almost a smile that made Jack's eyes widen. Pitch ignored this and bent down to Lillian.

"Everything will be fine," he told her reassuringly. "Jack will keep you safe. You won't have anything to fear if you stay close to him."

Lillian nodded as the sky turned various shades of red and orange as the sun set. It would be getting truly dark soon.

Pitch gave her a brief hug, feeling only mildly uncomfortable with the display of affection and straightened up.

Before Lillian could think to ask where he was spreading his nightmares first, Pitch had blended into the gathering shadows and disappeared.

Jack glanced down when he felt a small hand slip into his. He couldn't help but think back to that day, when Lillian had done the same thing, her eyes wide with fright.

Jack took a deep breath and hitched a smirk on his face. That wouldn't happen tonight. He wouldn't let it.

He grinned at her.

"Race you into town!"

Before Lillian could protest, Jack had slipped his hand out of hers, and took off with the wind.

"N-no fair!" Lillian pouted.

She was about to take off running, but then realized: The Giant Flower of Doom!

She giggled, thinking how awesome it would be to beat Jack into town.

Her bracelet glowed and much easier than last time, the tulip grew to epic proportions as it swallowed Lillian whole.

As she was encased in darkness, Lillian briefly wondered if there was an easier way to do this, so the flower wouldn't send her flying every time it spit her out.

As she went flying through the air, landing thankfully on soft grass, she realized she definitely had to work on her landings. She quickly got up, brushing grass off her favorite black dress. She was once again wearing the one with the sparkly silver ribbon around the waist. Her hair was pulled back with a silver hair ribbon as well.

She looked up at the sky for a few minutes, watching the last of the light disappear in a blaze of red. Streetlights all around were already flicking on. Lillian looked around, wondering where on Earth Jack could be, when she spotted it.

She tilted her head at it. What was that golden ribbon in the sky? She looked around, and still not spotting Jack yet, decided to go check it out. Golden ribbons in the sky couldn't hurt you, right?

Lillian soon saw not one, but many golden ribbons in the sky. They seemed to be floating into houses, she saw. She curiously followed after one as it went into an upper story window of a house.

Lillian huffed in annoyance as she saw that all the golden ribbons were high in the air. As she was pouting at how unfair this was, a golden stream of sand snuck up behind her and whooshed around her.

At first she jumped, but then giggled as she saw it. Curious about what it could be, she gently reached out and let her fingers play through the ribbon. She was surprised when it felt like sand at the beach.

She gasped when an image burst forth from the stream: a beautiful golden rose. She smiled when the rose bloomed more, revealing more of its petals. This was awesome! She loved this golden ribbon.

She amused herself by pulling her hand away and sticking it back in the golden ribbon. Each time it would turn into something happy that she loved. As a spirit of spring, it always seemed to be turning into some sort of flower, but one time it turned into a golden figure of Jack. There was a little golden girl too, and they were pelting each other with snowballs.

She stared at the dream, wondering if it would be possible to play with Jack in the snow during winter. Would she freeze since she was a spring spirit?

Meanwhile, Sandy was hovering high above Burgess on a golden cloud. He frowned a little as he felt someone messing constantly with one of his streams of dreamsand. It wasn't unusual to feel a minor disturbance, as he knew that Jack Frost liked to play with them, but normally Jack ran his fingers through the sand once. No, whoever was doing this was doing it multiple times..

Like a child.

His eyes widened in realization.

Soon he was zooming through the sky on his cloud of dreamsand, following a particular stream back to a Child of Spring.

It didn't take long for him to spot her on the ground, giggling as she played with the stream. He could see that she was entranced by the possible dreams she could have.

He smiled at the sight, but then frowned. She looked so very young, and it was already getting late for a child of her age to be out and about.

He briefly entertained the thought of knocking her out with a ball of dreamsand, but then where would he take her? He knew that if she woke up somewhere strange, such as North's workshop, it would only frighten her more.

Deciding on the direct approach, he cautiously floated down closer to her.

Lillian jumped a little when she felt the sudden cold winter breeze, and Jack's cold hand on her shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said, his voice a little harsh.

Lillian started to turn to look at him, when something in front of her caught her attention: a little golden man standing on a golden cloud.

She blinked at the sight. Then she looked up at Jack. She had never seen him look so.. so.. un-Jacklike before. Usually Jack was all smiles and if not happy, then at least playful. But this Jack wasn't smiling. In fact, he almost looked a little _mean._

She looked back at the golden man, her expression apprehensive now.

Seeing that things were not going very well, Sandy smiled his best smile at them to calm them down, and introduced himself by making an image of a sandy beach and then the image of a man.

Lillian blinked at the two images.

"Sand.. man..?" she said softly in puzzlement.

Sandy nodded emphatically at this and gave Lillian a thumbs up.

Lillian looked up at Jack for help.

Seeing Lillian's confusion, Jack elaborated for her.

"That's the Sandman," he said, "he's a _Guardian._ "

Sandy was surprised at the way that Jack spit out the term 'Guardian'. Was he that upset by what Bunny had done?

Deciding to ignore that fact for now, he nodded at Jack, thankful for the introduction. He smiled at Lillian, making a golden flower appear above his head. He gestured at her.

Lillian could understand this well enough. It seemed he knew who she was, somehow. A little fright entered her eyes. How did he know about her?! Did the Easter Bunny tell him? Was he going to try to take her away too?

Unconsciously she shifted closer to Jack and clung onto his hand.

Sandy smiled sadly at this. She was so young, and now it seemed she was afraid of anyone who called themselves a Guardian.

He turned to Jack, making a flower and a question mark appear, wondering if Jack would introduce her.

"She's the spirit of spring," he reluctantly confirmed.

Jack didn't really have anything against the Sandman, but he had realized that Pitch was right. The Guardians already had their chance to help out Lillian and they failed. What right did they have to come and upset things now?

Sandy clapped happily at this, glad to have confirmation of his suspicions. He gave Lillian an extra big grin and a thumbs up.

Lillian stared at the Sandman, a little confused. He seemed to talk by making pictures, and he wasn't even trying to take her away from Jack. That's what they all wanted to do, wasn't it? The Easter Bunny had tried to and he was a Guardian.

Lillian tugged at Jack's hand and Jack looked down at her.

"Why doesn't he talk?" she whispered to Jack, but Sandy heard. It was night now and voices carried more easily.

"He can't talk," Jack whispered back. "He talks by the pictures he makes."

As if to prove that Jack was right, Sandy made a picture of a sleeping child above his head and pointed at Lillian.

Lillian didn't like being pointed at, and hid herself behind Jack.

Jack looked at Sandy and sighed. He got the point, it was way past her bedtime.

"Look," Jack said. "Everything's fine. She already took a long nap earlier in the day so she could stay up a little later. We're hanging around town for awhile tonight and then she's going home."

Curious, Sandy made a picture of a house above his head with a question mark.

Jack shook his head at this.

"She doesn't want anyone to know where she lives. In case you missed it, a certain Easter Bunny tried to kidnap her a few days ago. She trusts me because I'm her friend. She doesn't trust you," he said bluntly.

Sandy winced a little at that. He made some sand images above his head to indicate that Bunny meant well, he just went about it the wrong way. He showed that Bunny was only angry and not thinking rationally.

Jack shrugged at this, not sure what to believe.

"Look, can you just.. leave us alone? You're scaring her," he said with a glance behind him to Lillian, who was still hiding.

Sandy looked very sad about this. He had never frightened a child before. With a soft nod, he floated back up into the sky.

He glanced back down at the ground at the pair of spirits. Even with a nap, they were _both_ up late.

Hoping that this wouldn't damage his reputation with the spirits, he did what he does best: give children good dreams.

Even if this meant a pair of child spirits. Because after all, Jack was still a child too, wasn't he?

Nobody else might have realized it, but Sandy could tell Jack was still a child at heart. When nightmares had often plagued Jack at his lake, Sandy had visited every once in awhile to give Jack a good dream or two.

He often saw Jack curled up in a tree or in the snow in the winter time, cuddling with his staff like it was a teddy bear.

When he saw Jack like that, it struck him how young Jack looked.

Now they had an even younger child spirit to look after. She might be frightened of them now, but he knew that if she saw each of them and they were nothing but kind to her, they might be able to fix things.

Hopefully.

With that thought in mind, he flew back down to the pair of now sleeping spirits. Not knowing where to put the Child of Spring, he gently pulled them both onto his cloud with him, as it expanded a little for the guests. Sandy made sure Jack had his staff and then took off for Jack's lake.

* * *

Author's Note: Somehow I don't think Pitch is going like this. Anyway, so Bunny and Sandy have met Jack and Lillian, now Tooth and North are left. I'm not really sure how Tooth (or more likely her fairies) will see Jack and Lillian, but I'll figure it out. So the next chapter will feature Pitch freaking out about a sleeping Jack and Lillian, maybe a little Tooth fairy goodness.. Hm! And if it's not too long, we'll get into some more serious time skipping. I figure it won't be long until Jack is zooming Lillian around (because really, even if he promised not to _one_ flight couldn't hurt right?), getting into mischief. Then I think I'll have a few inbetween scenes and then we'll get into some more holidays like Halloween and Christmas. We'll see though, it seems like sometimes things don't go exactly as planned. Remember if you have an awesometacular idea that you think should be in this fic, let me know! I'm very welcome to all suggestions.


	10. Chapter 10: Little Fairies & North's

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed! In this chapter we get some Pitch worrying, Lillian and little fairy goodness and what Jack and Lillian get up to in the summer. I googled about superheroes as I don't know a lot about them and when they were created. I made sure that all the heroes mentioned were created before 1968. I also googled the official start of summer so the date should be accurate. I had to google seasons too. Whew! Thank goodness for the internet. Let me know what you think. Also, I edited the last chapter a tiny bit. Nobody caught the mistake where Jack said that Lillian was kidnapped that day, when really it was a few days ago. Whoops. And don't be too disappointed in Sandy. He was just doing his job. He really didn't like Jack and Lillian not getting enough sleep.

Chapter Ten: Little Fairies & North's Workshop

Pitch had decided to not go very far away from Lillian while she was supposed to be training with Jack, so he decided to stick around the United States while she was training. It was as he was wandering around on a farm in Wisconsin that he had that feeling. _Again._

He was grumbling about silos and why did that one have to be _right there_ , when he stopped dead in his tracks.

He looked around in the dark, but of course he couldn't see anything unusual. He had just finished giving some farm kid a good nightmare. He was particularly proud of the man-eating tractor chasing the kid around in a field. He could tell the kid didn't like how the tractor looked at night and figured this could help him out with that. Either that, or traumatize him more.

But now he had that feeling that something was wrong and he suddenly was wondering if Lillian was alright. He looked around in the dark again and suddenly realized something he had failed to realize.

It was dark.

Night time meant most children were asleep.

 _Sandman._

He would be out and about. What if he came across Jack and Lillian?! Pitch didn't particularly care for the Sandman. Not just because the Sandman was pretty much his opposite, but because he was also a Guardian.

Sandman was the more level-headed of the Guardians, sure, but he was still a Guardian. One of them had already tried kidnapping Lillian. He didn't doubt that Sandman might try to take her away if he discovered who she really was.

Deciding looking in on them would be perfectly normal and _not_ hovering, he quickly disappeared into the shadow of the accursed silo and reappeared in Burgess.

He wasn't sure if Jack would take Lillian into town, but it couldn't hurt to look. He looked up into the sky and could see the remnants of good dreams making their way into children's rooms.

Damn, he had already been there!

This was not good. Not good at all.

He took off down a street, frantically looking for any sign of Winter or Spring. Unfortunately nothing appeared more spring like than normal. There were also no traces of Winter. Not surprising, since it wasn't a particularly cold night, but it still set Pitch on edge.

A few hours later, he was on the verge of panicking. He had looked all over town and couldn't find _any_ trace of them.

He disappeared into the shadows and reappeared back in his lair. He searched all over, but Lillian wasn't in her room or anywhere else. He pinched the bridge of his nose, looking pained and feeling a headache coming on.

They had taken her.

She was lost forever, he just knew it.

There was no trace of Jack either.

They were both gone.

It was the Guardians he knew it.

He clenched his fists at his sides.

 _ **They would pay.**_

As thoughts of vengeance started to take hold, one last desperate hope came to him.

That lake that Fro- _Jack_ always hung out at.

He realized he was grasping at straws, but he didn't care.

He disappeared into the shadows.

A moment later as he was stepping out of the shadow of a tree, he almost stumbled over Jack and Lillian as they were laying on the ground.

He sighed in relief as he saw them, Jack with his arms wrapped around Lillian. A golden Jack Frost and a golden Lillian were hovering over the both of their heads and they were having an epic snowball fight.

Pitch realized that they must have been dreaming about each other and the dreams merged, as they sometimes were prone to do.

For a moment he wished he had a camera, but then frowned as he looked down at Jack. He reached down and after some tugging, managed to scoop Lillian out of Jack's arms and into his own.

He nudged Jack with his foot, perhaps a little harder than he meant to and the golden dream fizzled out over Jack's head.

Golden Jack was still hovering over Lillian's head and now he was just making silly faces for no apparent reason.

Jack's eyes fluttered open as Pitch nudged him again.

"Wha..?" he sleepily muttered as he sat up.

Pitch's eyes flashed in anger.

"Having a nice nap, are we?"

Jack suddenly woke up at the dangerous edge in Pitch's voice. He quickly stood and looked at Pitch holding a sleeping Lillian with wide eyes.

"P-Pitch!" Jack said, his voice a little higher than normal.

"Care to explain?" he said, his voice sounding somewhat calmer, but Jack knew that Pitch was anything but calm.

Jack swallowed as he thought of how to explain this.

"U-um.." he said, finally deciding that the truth couldn't hurt. Hopefully. "After you left, Lillian and I had a race into town. She must've used her flower, since she got there long before I did. When I found her in town, the Sandman was there. He uh.. he knew Lillian was the spirit of spring and wanted to know where she lived."

Pitch tensed. He narrowed his eyes at Jack.

"And?"

"And we didn't tell him anything, of course." Jack said, sounding defensive. "I told him that after Bunny, Lillian didn't want anyone to know where she lived. He mentioned something about her being up too late, but I told him she had a long nap and we were going home after hanging around town. I guess he didn't like that, since the next thing I knew I was waking up here. He must've knocked us out."

Jack looked down at his feet at that, hugging his staff to himself.

"..I'm.. I'm sorry. I know I promised to look after her.."

Pitch sighed as he saw Jack, looking like the epitome of a child being scolded.

"Don't let it happen again," he finally said, his voice sounding less harsh.

He knew that up against dreamsand, there really wasn't too much of a defense, other than trying to dodge. But honestly, it hadn't even been two hours!

"I'm taking Lillian home," he said. "The dreamsand won't wear off for a long time, and you still seem to be feeling the effects of it as well."

He could see Jack's eyes were dropping and he was struggling to stay awake still.

Jack nodded, still looking very guilty.

Without saying anything else, Pitch let the shadows swallow him and Lillian up.

* * *

It was mid June when Lillian met another Guardian. Well, one of the helpers. Lillian and Jack had settled into a routine where they went out to practice her powers in the late afternoon and stopped when it was starting to get dark out. They usually made it back to the lair in time for Pitch to give Lillian a quick dinner and tuck her in before he left to spread nightmares.

Jack usually hung around until Lillian fell asleep before he too, left. It didn't leave them a lot of time to practice, but Lillian was still wary of going out earlier in case they ran into one of the Guardians. She was also apprehensive of staying out after dark in case they had another run in with the Sandman.

Sandman wasn't particularly frightening to her, but she was very unsettled when she woke up back in the lair that morning. She couldn't remember how she came to be there and when Pitch explained how he had found both her and Jack at Jack's lake, she had trembled. The gap in her memory was particularly unsettling.

So Lillian had limited her time outside to a few hours a day. She didn't really like it, as the seasonal spirit in her was craving more outdoor time, but her fear of the Guardians kept her mostly to Pitch's lair.

She was getting to be very good at traveling via the Giant Flower of Doom and was gaining more control over her other spring powers in general. She could now spread spring without having to run all over the place, and had discovered that not only could she make it rain, she could call on thunderstorms as well.

As she practiced her powers, Lillian and Jack had been exploring the town as well, and soon they discovered the wonderful world of comics and thusly super heroes.

She and Jack were in town, discussing who was better. Lillian had insisted that Spiderman was the best, since he could web any bad guy and was really smart.

Jack insisted that Superman was the best, since he could fly and was impervious to practically _anything_.

Lillian then pointed out Batman was pretty cool, but Jack had scoffed at this.

"He doesn't even have any powers!" Jack said. "And being a billionaire doesn't count."

Lillian looked scandalized at this.

"He has all sorts of gadgets! He doesn't _need_ powers."

Jack was about to respond to this when Lillian suddenly grinned, not noticing that the sun had long since set and the moon had risen high into the sky.

"We could be super heroes!" she said excitedly.

"Uh.. what?" Jack said, looking confused.

"You have power over Winter, right? You could be.. um.. the Winter Wonder! And I'll be the Lightning Lass, since I can call up thunderstorms. We'll be unbeatable! You can freeze all the bad guys and I'll zap 'em with lightning."

Jack wasn't sure this would be the best idea and was just about to say so, when he saw Lillian looking up at the sky.

"What's that?" she pointed at what appeared to be a humming bird flying through an open window of a house.

Jack looked just in time to see the humming bird fly through the window.

"Oh, that's just one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers," he said. "They collect the teeth of children and leave gifts. I've never seen the Tooth Fairy myself, so I guess she's either busy in other parts of the world or she just sends her helpers out to collect the teeth."

"Oh," Lillian said as she watched the window.

Sure enough, the little humming bird flew out of the window. It paused as it felt eyes watching it, and then it spotted Jack and Lillian.

The humming bird flew down to them, tweeting that they were up pretty late.

Not speaking bird, they just looked at the helper in confusion.

"Hey, mister bird?" Lillian asked. "Is the Tooth Fairy nearby?"

The bird ruffled its feathers at being called 'mister'. Obviously all the Tooth Fairy's helpers were female!

The bird however, just shook its head.

Lillian looked very relieved and the bird looked confused. Didn't most children want to meet the Tooth Fairy? They often had to go back to Tooth and inform her of any children waiting up for the Tooth Fairy. Tooth then had to contact Sandman to make sure the kids were knocked out before her helpers could collect the teeth.

The bird gave Lillian and Jack a quizzical look before it suddenly remembered a few months ago that Tooth had asked them to keep an eye out for a child hanging around one Jack Frost. The bird eyed Jack, realizing that Jack fit the description of Jack Frost. And if this was Jack Frost, then that child must be..

The spring spirit!

The bird's eyes widened as it gazed at Lillian, making her squirm uncomfortably. It gave an excited chirp and flew in a circle around Lillian happily.

Lillian couldn't help but giggle at the bird, as she thought it was being silly. She and Jack watched the bird fly off into the sky.

Jack looked down at Lillian.

"Lillian.. there's something I've been meaning to tell you," Jack said with a guilty tone in his voice.

Lillian blinked and looked up at her best friend.

"What is it?"

Jack looked uncomfortable.

"Uh.. you know that I'm a Winter Spirit, right?"

Lillian nodded.

"Well.. it's June now, and it'll be the start of summer in a few days. Usually when it gets warmer out like this, I go somewhere cold to stay."

Lillian noticed that Jack did look a little flushed now that she looked at him more closely, and was he actually _sweating?_

"Oh.." Lillian said, her voice small. "You can't play with me anymore?"

Jack looked at Lillian, whose lip was quivering. He could see she was very upset at the prospect of not seeing him for months.

"Well.. if you dressed _very_ warm, I think we could find some things to do. You don't want to practice your powers around here anyway, once summer begins. The summer spirit will be mad at you."

Lillian brightened at this.

"We could go to where it's spring in other places too, while it's summer here."

Jack was suddenly reminded of how little schooling Lillian had, if she thought that was the case. He made a mental note to tell Pitch later, since as a seasonal spirit, Lillian had to learn all about the seasons.

"No, it doesn't work like that. It won't be spring anywhere else until it's fall here," Jack gently corrected her. "But that's okay! We can have a lot of fun anyway."

"Yeah~!" Lillian brightened up. "The Winter Wonder and Lightning Lass can have lots of adventures! ZAP! POW! We'll get pretend bad guys and save the day!"

Jack laughed and ruffled Lillian's hair affectionately.

* * *

When it was June twenty-first, the official start of summer, Lillian was waiting out at Jack's lake. She was wearing wearing her favorite black dress, now with sparkly silvery leggings to match the bow around her waist and ribbon in her hair, and she had a matching black cloak as well. She had snuck a pair of gloves in the pockets of her dress and had hidden a scarf under her cloak as she held it.

Her excuse was that the nights were cooler and with Jack being a winter spirit, he was making it colder around his lake, so he could hang around Burgess longer.

Pitch was suspicious, but as Lillian had never actually lied to him before, he had no reason to doubt this. He merely told her to make sure to stay around Jack's lake and be cautious if they ran into any of the Guardians.

So now Lillian was standing at Jack's lake after having donned her cloak, scarf and gloves. It was a little warm, since the night wasn't _that_ cool and she was getting impatient waiting for Jack to arrive from whatever cold place he had been staying at.

Soon enough however, she felt the cold winter wind that meant Jack had just arrived. She gave a gasp of surprise as instead of landing by her like she expected, Jack had asked the wind to pick Lillian up.

She gave a shiver as the cold wind wrapped around her and soon she was flying up in the air next to Jack. As she looked down at the forest below her, she gave a grin, forgetting all about the cold.

"This is _amazing!_ " she said excitedly to Jack.

Jack smirked at her, glad his friend was enjoying this.

"How'd you like to visit Santa's workshop?"

Lillian's eyes widened at this. THE Santa's workshop?!

"Really?! We can see where he makes all his toys!" she said, imagining the most amazing place ever.

"Well.. I haven't gotten that far yet," Jack admitted. "The yetis always catch me. But it's a lot of fun to try!"

"..Yetis?"

* * *

It took a few good hours of flying at breakneck speed for Jack and Lillian to reach the North Pole. Jack had explained that the North Pole was very cold, so he liked to try to break in when it was warmer around his lake. It gave him something to do and Phil wasn't that bad, really.

He made Lillian promise to tell him when she got too cold. Jack didn't ever feel cold, so it was likely he wouldn't actually notice how cold it really was and he didn't want to take the chance of Lillian freezing.

She had promised she'd tell him, and soon enough they had both landed a distance away from the workshop.

Lillian simply stared at it with her mouth open. It was even more amazing than she imagined.

After she managed to stop staring, she looked up at Jack.

"How are we going to break in?"

Jack shrugged.

"I've tried everything, but the yetis always catch me. Do you have any ideas?"

Lillian looked. The workshop looked like it would be hard to break into. She remembered however, that Jack could fly. She bet Santa never thought of that.

"What if you flew us up and we climbed in through a window? There's lots of windows and I bet we could find an open one."

Jack nodded. He had gone this route before.

"Yeah, but the yetis always catch me soon afterwards."

Lillian put her finger on her chin, tapping her foot in the snow as she thought. She wished she had thought of bringing her boots, since her feet were a little cold, but boots definitely would've given away her plans to Pitch.

"I know!" she finally said. "What if I used my powers to distract them? I can make flowers grow all over and the yetis won't know where we are. I can make it look like we're in one place and then you can fly us high in the air so we can quick check out Santa's workshop without getting caught."

Jack admitted it was as good a plan as any, but..

"Won't you using your powers give you away? They'll know it was the spirit of spring that broke in then. Santa might come looking for you, or you could be put on the Naughty List."

"Naughty List?" Lillian asked. She vaguely remembered Pitch mentioning something about it, but it seemed so long ago now.

"It's the list that the bad kids go on. I'm pretty sure I've been on it for a long time," Jack grinned. "But you don't want to get on it, do you? Santa won't bring you presents for Christmas otherwise."

Lillian looked down at this, scuffing her shoe in the snow. She never had a Christmas before. She didn't really know what it meant, other than that Santa would bring good kids presents.

But.. Pitch always said the Guardians looked after _human_ children.

"Santa wouldn't come to Pitch's to give me presents, would he?" she asked Jack skeptically.

"Maybe not Pitch's, but he must know that you hang around Burgess a lot with me. He might leave them at my lake for me to give to you." Jack said.

"But Santa doesn't give spirits presents, does he?" she questioned Jack further.

Jack shrugged.

"I don't know.. He never came for me," Jack admitted. "When I found out about Christmas from hanging around Burgess so much, I was really excited for Santa to come bring me presents. But he never came. I thought maybe he didn't know about me, so when I got the hang of my powers better, I started trying to break into his workshop. Even if it was for being bad, I thought it would make him notice me. After I tried breaking into Santa's workshop so much that year, the next year I was as good as I could be, but he never came. I kinda gave up after that.. But he could come for you! So I understand if you don't want to break in and ruin your chances with him."

Lillian looked at Jack sadly at this. Santa never gave Jack presents, even if he was a good kid. Humph! Pitch was right. The Guardians only cared about humans. But maybe..

Lillian's eyes lit up as she got an idea.

"I'll help you break in this time, and when it gets closer to Christmas, I'll write Santa a letter for the both of us. I'll tell him that I didn't mean any harm in it and that you only wanted him to notice you. I'll tell him that you're really good otherwise and that I've been really good too, and then he'll come and give us both presents!" she finished triumphantly.

Jack looked a little skeptical at this. He'd pretty much been ignored by all the Guardians for a couple hundred years, barring the occasional talk with Sandy, and when Bunny would sneer at him, or in most cases - yell at him.

"It'll work!" Lillian insisted.

Ten minutes later, both Jack and Lillian found themselves being held up by their hoods by Phil.

At first Lillian's plan seemed to be working, as she threw the workshop into chaos with flowers sprouting _everywhere._

The yetis were all in a panic and as planned, Jack flew him and Lillian high above the chaos. They probably could've made it, but Lillian's constantly glowing bracelet gave them away.

As Jack flew them lower to get to North's workshop so they could get a better look at where the toys were made, a hand had reached out and grabbed the pair of them by their hoods.

Jack was impressed though. He had _almost_ gotten close enough to get a look at the workshop. It was the closest that he had ever gotten to seeing it.

Phil had carried them to the big front doors and dumped them unceremoniously in the snow just outside the front doors.

Jack was about to say something when he was hit in the face with a blue scarf. He looked at it in surprise and then a wooden toy was tossed at Lillian's feet.

Before either of them could say anything, the front door slammed closed in their faces.

Jack smiled happily and hugged the scarf close to his chest. He could see it was handmade and had a pattern of white snowflakes at the ends, by the fringe.

Lillian held up the toy, which turned out to be a wooden toy horse.

"Why'd he give us this?" she asked, confused.

"Phil has a soft spot for me, and now you, I guess." Jack said. "He gave me my blue hoodie one year. He knows that not a lot of spirits pay me any attention and it's his way of making up for it, I think."

Lillian looked from the toy horse back to the front doors and then over at Jack. Jack had sounded offhand when he said it, but she could see a sadness in his eyes that she never noticed before. It was then that everything Jack said had suddenly hit her. He had been alone for hundreds of years and _nobody_ paid attention to him. He even broke into the workshop just so Santa would notice him, even if it was for doing something bad.

Lillian hadn't realized it, but in that moment she grew up just a little. It was a realization that most children wouldn't reach. But by being constantly surrounded by older spirits, mentally she was growing. Physically she would always be six-ish years old, but mentally she would rise above children her age.

Not knowing what to do with this newfound knowledge, she did the only thing she could think of to do. She reached over and gave Jack a big hug.

* * *

Author's Note: This seemed like a good place to end the chapter. What do you think about Lillian growing up just a little bit? She'll always have childish tendencies, but I figured it's about time she started realizing some things. I also have a plan to cover her obvious gap in knowledge. Next chapter will feature Halloween and Christmas. I have my own ideas, but do you guys have any ideas on how the two holidays should go down? I like hearing what you think, since it makes me think of things I might not have thought of myself. After Christmas, I think that's where the more substantial time skipping will take place. Also yes, the idea of Pitch stumbling around on a farm and accidentally walking into a silo is highly amusing to me. :)


	11. Chapter 11: Halloween

Author's Note: Thanks to all the follows, reviews, etc! I forgot to address a concern from a review in the last update. Whoops! Sorry about that. They were wondering why Sandy didn't put it together about the blue lights. Bunny has come very close to guessing too, but I don't want the blue lights revealed just yet. I'm saving it for later in the story. Also, most of the Guardians don't believe the lights could be a spirit. They aren't used to having children spirits around, it'll take them awhile to figure it out yet. I REALLY wanted to put both Halloween and Christmas in here, but the chapter already seemed so long, so I decided to save Christmas for the next chapter. We'll also get to see Lillian's cute note to Santa in the next chapter and maybe one from Jack Frost. I really wanted to put only super cute things in this chapter, but realistically, I knew Lillian would be drawn to a certain spot in town..

Chapter Eleven: Halloween

Over the next few months, Lillian and Jack kept trying to break into Santa's workshop. Jack was excited because they _almost_ got to see what it looked like, and he'd never gotten that far before. However, he was worrying that Lillian would ruin her chances with Santa too. He knew for sure that this would land her on the Naughty List, and Lillian was looking forward from a visit from Santa more than anything else.

North, for his part, remained fairly clueless about all the attempts to break into the workshop. That is, until he noticed all the many bouquets of flowers around his home. They were _everywhere._

He went to question Phil about this, when he realized that they were all _spring_ flowers. Instead of seeking out Phil, he went to the room were the Lists were kept.

He made his way to the Naughty List and looked at the first page. He shook his head at the name Jack Frost underlined in red at the very top. If only Jack would stop playing all those pranks!

He was surprised when he saw a new name on the list, right under Jack's. It just said 'Lillian' with no last name to go with it. Was this the child spirit? He thought back to all the spring flowers everywhere - which should be impossible since it was September now - and grimaced.

The child had to have been naughty to get on the list. He sighed at that. It must have been Jack Frost's doing. The child could not have been that naughty on her own.

He looked sadly at the Naughty List - those children didn't get presents.

"She will be having bad Christmas this year," North said regretfully.

He couldn't bend the rules, even for a child spirit. He wondered, as all the Guardians have constantly been wondering, where the child spirit was living.

Wherever it was, he hoped that she would have someone to brighten her Christmas this year.

* * *

Lillian was out and about with Jack Frost. It was mid-afternoon and she was more confident now in going out during the day time.

"Come on, we HAVE to!" Lillian said, looking pleadingly at Jack.

They were currently near Jack's lake since a cold front had come in and cooled things off enough so that Lillian didn't have to lie about their whereabouts. She was sure Pitch would catch on to where they were really going, but he hadn't yet.

Jack looked down at his friend and made a face.

"I am _not_ dressing up as the Winter Wonder for Halloween," he said, trying and failing to mimic Pitch's 'adult mode' voice.

"But then I can be The Lightning Lass!" Lillian insisted.

Ever since she and Jack had heard some kids talking about what they were going to be for Halloween (and Jack had explained Halloween to her), Lillian had been pestering Jack to dress up with her ever since.

Jack had pointed out it was unlikely anyone would see them (he avoided town usually during holidays so he wouldn't anger other spirits) and Lillian had been disappointed until they heard that Halloween was a time when the veil between the living and the dead was thinner, which meant ghosts and all sorts of things that couldn't be seen before could now be seen.

Jack had tried explaining they couldn't get costumes, but Lillian countered that by saying that Pitch could make them.

"Look," Jack finally said, his tone exasperated, "the Halloween Spirit won't like us messing with his holiday. The Fall Spirit barely tolerates me being around now."

Lillian pouted at this.

"Have you ever talked to the Halloween Spirit?" she asked Jack, sounding a little sulky.

Jack ignored her tone.

"Well, no - "

"Then how do you know she'll be mad? She might not even see us!" Lillian said, stomping her foot childishly, and looking not too far away from a tantrum.

Jack was surprised at this. Usually Lillian was pretty easygoing and happy. He hadn't seen her cry very often and the only times she wasn't herself were when she was afraid to go outside.

"The Halloween Spirit's a guy," Jack said, hoping if he ignored the impending tantrum that it would go away.

Lillian crossed her arms and gave Jack a look.

"Even if we did go out, nobody would know who we were," Jack said trying to get her to see reason.

Lillian relented a little at that. It was true, only she and Jack would know.

"Well.. then we can dress up as _real_ superheros," she said stubbornly.

"Who would we be?" Jack asked, exasperated. "I have white hair!"

"You could wear a wig," Lillian replied as Jack blanched at the thought. "I'm gonna be Batgirl! I'll have gadgets and a cape AND I'll be a superhero who is a GIRL."

She emphasized the last part, since she felt there weren't enough girl superheroes out there.

"And I would be..?" Jack asked.

Lillian eyed Jack thoughtfully. He didn't have enough of a build to be Batman, but..

"You could be Robin! Ohh, no wait! A bad guy! I'll be capturing you!"

Jack frowned a little at this.

"I don't want to be a villain," he said a little petulantly. "I want to be a hero."

Lillian suddenly grinned.

"You could be Iceman," she said helpfully.

Jack laughed at that.

"I do have the powers for it."

"Yeah!" Lillian said, getting excited again. "Pitch can make you an all white costume and you can frost it over or something to make it look more like real ice."

She frowned a little at the staff. It wouldn't work with the costume. Then she noticed her bracelet. That wouldn't work either!

"Do you need your staff to use your powers?" she asked, looking hopeful.

Jack shrugged.

"It helps me focus my powers. Like your bracelet helps you with yours. I can probably keep up the ice on my costume without it, and maybe use a little to amaze some kids, but I wouldn't be able to do much else. Why?"

"Iceman doesn't have a staff. He's just.. icy?" Lillian said, trying to think back to some X-men comics she had read. "I think he used to wear a belt or something."

"Why don't I be someone more well known?" Jack said, not remembering what Iceman looked like at all.

Lillian thought hard. Not getting enough comics from the grocery store, she had taken to sneaking into houses and reading kids' comic book collections. She couldn't read very well, but she could understand enough. And if she sounded out the names of the people she could somewhat read them.

She also liked Iron Man, but not as much as Batman. Batman was rich, sure, but he was resourceful.

Iron Man was resourceful too, but.. he didn't seem to have the same.. _flair_ as Batman.

As she was frowning at Jack, she suddenly remembered a comic that a boy had. It was wrapped up in plastic and she had been very careful with it, so as not to wreck it. If the boy had known she had actually taken it out of the plastic and read the thing, he probably would've been very upset.

Lillian's frown slowly changed to a grin.

"You can be Jack Frost," she said triumphantly.

"I _am_ Jack Frost," Jack said to Lillian, wondering if she was alright.

"Nooo," Lillian whined. "Jack Frost is a bad guy in Iron Man! He has this blue suit thingy and he called himself Jack Frost. His suit gave him ice powers," she explained. "So that could be you!"

Jack Frost going as.. Jack Frost. The _villain._ He wanted to facepalm, but Lillian looked so excited at the idea.

"Jack Frost and Batgirl?" he asked. It was an unusual pair.

"Either that or you go as the _real_ Jack Frost," she said with a grin. "I bet we can find you some pointy shoes."

Jack shook his head frantically at that.

"No! No shoes! I'll go as the other Jack Frost," Jack said quickly, hoping to dislodge the idea of pointy shoes from Lillian's mind.

Lillian jumped up and down happily at that.

"This is gonna be great!" she said. "Let's go tell Pitch to get started on our costumes!"

"Or we could _ask_ Pitch nicely if he'll help us make costumes. You never know, maybe he has plans for Halloween too. It is a good time for scaring kids." Jack looked thoughtful at that. "I wonder if he knows the spirit of Halloween?"

"I dunno," Lillian said with a shrug. "But I bet Pitch'll make us costumes! He's a real good sew-er!"

She grabbed Jack's hand and began to drag him back to Pitch's.

"Let's go!"

* * *

It turned out that Pitch knew the spirit of Halloween and no, they weren't friends. Pitch had tried to tell them that he liked his privacy and therefore he didn't mingle with other spirits (besides Lillian and Jack), but Lillian thought she knew what was going on.

It was just the same as it had been with Jack. Everybody ignored Pitch just liked they ignored Jack. Lillian thought this was pretty mean, so she asked Pitch if he wanted to come with them when they went trick-or-treating.

Pitch had declined, saying he was busy. Even if he didn't get along with the spirit of Halloween, there was no denying that it was the perfect time for scaring children.

Lillian had looked from Pitch to Jack and back to Pitch at this.

"I bet Jack could help you out after we're done trick-or-treating," she said innocently.

Jack had taken a step back in shock.

 _What?!_

Pitch apparently had the same thought as he looked equally shocked. The he looked at Jack and realized that his cold wind would be extra helpful.

"It'll be fun!" Lillian said, nudging Jack. "You could catch some kids telling scary stories and really scare them!"

Jack, who was about to decline Lillian's offer, stopped and closed his mouth again.

"Well.. maybe just a _little_." he relented.

"Yay!" Lillian cheered. "I wanna help too!"

Pitch had put his foot down at that. Lillian had never seen him at work and she never would if he could help it. Lillian was probably the only child in the world who didn't equate the Boogeyman with fear and he wanted to keep it that way.

"It'll be late by then. Jack can help if he wants, but I want you to go to bed after you're done trick-or-treating," Pitch said, raising his voice over Lillian's complaining.

Finally getting the stubborn child to agree (when did she learn to backtalk so much?), Pitch had agreed to help make their costumes. The only problem would be that Pitch had _no idea_ who Batgirl and Jack Frost the _villain_ were.

Lillian helpfully started to explain what they looked like.

* * *

September flew by and October went by equally as fast. Lillian had talked Pitch not only into making her and Jack Halloween costumes, but she had also convinced him to make a Winter Wonder and Lightning Lass costume, just for play, Lillian had said.

She figured they could make their super hero debut in the winter time, so they wouldn't have the chance to anger any seasonal spirits. Jack said they were a bit temperamental, whatever that meant.

Lillian stood in front of Pitch as he made a few last minute adjustments to her costume. She was antsy to get going and kept fidgeting, much to Pitch's annoyance.

"For the last time, hold still!" he said, accidentally pricking his finger for the third time as he was trying to do some last minute sewing on her costume.

"Jack's waiting! He already has his costume!" Lillian said, shifting eagerly from foot to foot.

Pitch finally finished sewing and after he cut and tied off the thread, declared her done.

He thought the idea of a Batgirl was completely ridiculous, but he had to admit that Lillian looked pretty cute. He had adjusted the costume so that it was a little black dress instead with black tights underneath.

He had made the bat insignia on the front of the costume himself and he didn't think it looked half bad. The yellow boots he had managed to 'find' and thankfully Lillian didn't ask where they came from.

Lillian also had a little plastic pumpkin that had another bat insignia made out of paper taped over the pumpkin's face.

"Thanks, Pitch!" Lillian smiled at him, and gave him a big hug.

Pitch patted her back awkwardly and soon she was gone.

Lillian found Jack waiting at his lake, as promised, already dressed in his costume. Jack was nervous and fidgety, since no human had ever seen him before.

Lillian waited until she was almost there and then put on her mask. Pitch had tried to make it easy for her to see out of, but in truth she was having a little difficulty. She grabbed a hold of Jack's hand when she reached him.

"Ohh noo..!" Jack said dramatically when Lillian approached. "It's.. it's.. _Batgirl!_ "

Batgirl posed dramatically and pulled out a plastic bat that was serving as a bat weapon, pointing it at Jack.

"You're Jack Frost! How dare you break into Stark.. Ind.. thingy! And now you're in Metropolis!" Lillian said, deepening her voice a little to sound more like a grown up.

"I think you mean Gotham City, you little bat," Jack said in a 'menacing' voice.

"Yeah!" Lillian agreed. "You better come peacefully or else I'll.. POW ZAP you into next year!"

"Oh no..!" Jack said, looking scared. "I'll go with you Batgirl.. But only if we can collect a lot of candy."

"Deal!"

* * *

Jack wanted to use the wind to fly them to town, but thought it might be better if they walked, in case people saw them.

Lillian pointed out that people would think they were seeing things, but Jack disagreed.

So after a short walk, they found themselves in town. There were all kinds of ghouls, ghosts, goblins and super heroes out and about. There were also a _lot_ of princesses.

Lillian rolled her eyes at all the Snow Whites and Cinderellas. Didn't human girls want to be anything _fun?_

Jack was surprised at all the compliments he was getting on his costume. He was sure that not a lot of people actually knew who he was, but the costume did turn out pretty nice.

He had white boots on and a dark blue and white costume with black goggles on. Most of the time he had the goggles pushed up on his head, since with it getting dark out they made it difficult to see.

Everyone loved Lillian's costume, of course. Several parents had asked Jack where his family had bought it from and Jack looked flustered. It was strange to have parents assume that Lillian was his little sister and it was also strange just to have people _talk_ to him.

Jack was so flustered that he walked into a street sign once, which had Lillian giggling for a long time. After wandering around town and getting her pumpkin nearly half full, Lillian paused by a house.

It was that run down house she had accidentally thrown herself in front of that one day. She looked at it curiously, feeling that this place was vaguely familiar.

She frowned as she looked at it.

"What is it?" Jack asked, noticing that Lillian was staring at the house.

"I dunno," Lillian said. "Want to ring the doorbell?"

Jack looked around. He saw kids going to the neighbors on either side of this house, but it seemed like everyone was avoiding this one.

"Maybe we should go somewhere - " Jack started.

"This place is spooky, I bet they have a lot of candy~!" Lillian said gleefully as she ran up the steps to the porch.

The porch creaked eerily as she stood in front of the door. She reached up and rang the doorbell.

 **DING**

Lillian waited for the 'dong' of the bell, but it never came. The doorbell must be a little broken, she decided.

 **DING**

 **DING**

 **DING**

Lillian could hear a man inside the house, grumbling to himself. She glanced over at Jack uncertainly, who shrugged.

The front door was suddenly flung open and a man in a stained shirt and jeans glared out at them. He didn't seem to be holding a bowl of candy, but Lillian thought it couldn't hurt to try anyway.

"Trick-or-treat~!" Lillian said cheerfully as she held out her pumpkin.

The man glared at her.

"I don't have any - "

"But it's Halloween, mister!" Lillian insisted, as she gazed up at the man with wide eyes. "All the kids get candy."

"I _said_ \- " the man began again, then paused. "Wait a minute.."

His hand suddenly flashed out and grabbed Lillian's arm.

"YOU! What the hell are you doing here?!" he shouted as he dragged Lillian closer.

Lillian lost her grip on her pumpkin as she cried out.

"J-Jack..!"

The man shook Lillian by her arm, squeezing hard.

"You think you can run away and then come back months later?! Just you wait..!"

Jack had no idea what the man was ranting about, but it was obvious from the pained look on Lillian's face that he was hurting her.

A serious look entered his eyes. _Nobody_ hurt his friend.

He held out his hand and called upon his ice powers. He wished that Lillian hadn't insisted on leaving his staff and her bracelet behind.

A big patch of ice appeared under the man and his feet suddenly slipped out from under him. Jack quickly scooped up Lillian and her pumpkin and bolted.

Now they knew why nobody was visiting this house.

Jack found a quiet spot in the park near some decorative hay bales for them to sit. He sat down on one of the bales with Lillian in his lap.

"You okay?" he asked worriedly.

Lillian had her face buried in Jack's chest and her shoulders were shaking.

"H-he y-yelled at me.." Lillian said, very muffled.

"What about your arm? It looked like he was hurting you," Jack said.

Pitch was _so_ going to kill him.

Lillian pulled away a little, pulling off her mask to wipe her eyes.

"It kinda hurts," she admitted. "But not a lot. Why was he mad at me?"

Jack shrugged.

"No idea. I think he mistook you for someone else."

Lillian sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"Do you want to go home?" Jack asked.

He felt bad. Their very first time out trick-or-treating and now it had to be ruined.

Lillian shrugged, wiping more tears away. She was startled when a figure in black walked past them, muttering about a wizard. The person was carrying a big pointy thingy and his feet looked kinda.. bony.

As she was about to ask Jack about the figure, Jack pointed out some kids in a backyard nearby.

There was a fire lit in a fire pit, and they were all gathered around, telling spooky stories.

"Want to see what they're up to? Maybe we could help Pitch out and give them a good scare," Jack said.

He couldn't believe he was saying that. Nobody helped out the Boogeyman, but it seemed to do the trick as Lillian giggled.

She nodded and climbed out of Jack's lap. Just as they were about to wander over, the sound of hooves could be heard.

It sounded like a horse was running hard, coming up from behind them.

Lillian and Jack turned to see a headless horseman coming right at them. Lillian let out an earsplitting scream and in a sudden burst of uncontrollable magic, the headless horseman found the spot where his head should have been filled with wild flowers.

"Ah.. ACHOO!" the horseman sneezed, dropping his pumpkin head which smashed on the ground.

Flowers scattered everywhere and the horseman floundered for a moment before he fell off his horse.

Lillian was clinging to Jack, hiding behind him, and Jack was relieved that he didn't get the blast of magic. It had been close.

"Ugh," the horseman said as he stood up. "Jeez, kid, don't have a heart attack."

The horseman adjusted his cloak and head popped up from it. It was a man who looked to be in his late twenties. He had black hair with hazel eyes. He crossed his arms as he looked at Jack and Lillian.

"Let me guess.. Spirit of Spring, right?" the man said.

Lillian peeked out from behind Jack a little.

"Who're you?" Jack asked as the man raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm Salem, the Spirit of Halloween. I always try and give the kids a good scare every year." He looked down at his black outfit, complete with black cloak. "Too much, do you think?"

"Way too much," Jack confirmed. "Maybe you should save that for the older kids. You don't want to give the younger ones nightmares."

Salem looked at the kid in the blue and white costume.

"Who're you, anyway?"

"..Uh.. nobody, really," Jack started to say.

Lillian didn't seem to like this as she finally stepped out from behind Jack to introduce him.

"He's Jack Frost," Lillian said in a small voice.

Salem looked from Lillian to Jack and nodded.

"So the rumors are true! I heard Winter and Spring were hanging out." he said as he looked at the pair curiously.

"We gotta go Mister Halloween Man," Lillian said as she grabbed Jack's hand and dragged him off.

"Remember, it's not Winter yet!" Salem called after them. "Jasper wouldn't like it!"

Jack hurried after Lillian as Salem's calls grew fainter.

"Who's Jasper?" Lillian asked as they got a good distance from the Halloween Spirit.

"He's the Fall Spirit," Jack said with a sigh.

"Aren't there _any_ girl spirits?"

* * *

Lillian and Jack had a very uneventful Halloween after that. Pitch wasn't very happy when he discovered the bruise on Lillian's arm, or when he heard how she had gotten it.

He had forbidden either of them to ever go near that house again and Pitch personally gave the man night terrors for a couple weeks, just to ensure that the man would leave his Lillian alone.

Pitch had wanted to wander around town and frighten children, but had decided that he and Jack would wander farther away once he heard that Salem was in town.

Blasted Halloween Spirit. Always trying to do Pitch's job and scare the kids on Halloween. He didn't even know how to do it properly!

Pitch and Jack had gotten home late that night and it was a few days afterwards before an overly hyper Lillian went outside to be with her friend.

Pitch had hidden away her stash of candy after that.

Meanwhile it wasn't until the Guardians' meeting in late November before North admitted what he had discovered about the child spirit.

"Is very sad," North said with a sigh. "But it seems spring spirit is on Naughty List. Right under Jack Frost."

"I knew he'd be a bad influence mate," Bunny chimed in. "Now the ankle biter's not gonna get any gifts."

"Oh no.." Tooth said, looking depressed. "Her first Christmas too."

Sandy waved his arms around and after a few minutes he was finally able to get everyone's attention.

Once everyone was looking at him, he made a golden picture of a small girl. Then he made a picture of a gift, and then pointed to Tooth, Bunny and lastly himself.

Tooth brightened at that.

"That's right! She might be on the Naughty List and North can't give her gifts, but that doesn't mean that _we_ can't get her any presents. We don't want her to think that we've forgotten about her, after all."

"Yeah, but she must've been pretty naughty ta get on the list so fast," Bunny interjected. "We don't want ta reward her for bad behavior."

Sandy stubbornly kept the picture of a gift above his head and then made a picture of a snowflake.

"You think we should get Jack Frost something too?" Tooth asked, surprised.

Sandy nodded firmly and gave Bunny a look.

Bunny pointedly ignored the look.

"Alright," Bunny said with a sigh. "What do ya get a spring spirit?"

* * *

Author's Note: We might see more of the Seasonals later on in the story. They really aren't mean (well Summer probably is), it's just that Jack has a terrible reputation at the moment so not a lot spirits really like him. As for the obvious cameo.. Instead of just Death, I had the Death from Discworld take a walk through the park. I couldn't help it, he's pretty awesome. As for Salem, he takes Halloween pretty seriously. He likes to dress up as something incredibly scary every year to scare the kids. I've decided that on Halloween people can see the Spirits because they tend to believe in a lot more things than they do any other time of the year. That's why the adults could see Jack and Lillian, as well as other kids. Also, Jack Frost is an actual comic book character, I googled it. There was actually a hero Jack Frost who was more like the legendary Jack Frost, but I found that out _after_ I decided on the villain one. I believe the bad Jack Frost is referred to as the first Blizzard. He broke into Stark Industries and caused all kinds of problems.

So the next chapter will obviously feature Christmas and perhaps an adventure of the Winter Wonder and Lightning Lass. Does anyone have any suggestions for Christmas? I realized having Lillian help Jack out with being naughty would definitely land her on the list, but I think I've gotten that taken care of. I don't want all her holidays to be angsty! Also, there will be decorating of Pitch's, because you just can't have Christmas without the decorations. I think Jack will help him out with that. :) If Christmas isn't too long, we'll have some time skips through the years and we'll see Lillian grow up a little more before the movie starts. We're getting close!


	12. Chapter 12: All I Want for Christmas

Author's Note: Thanks for that interesting little poem about Death there, and thanks to everyone who viewed, favorited, followed and reviewed this fic. I was so excited for the Christmas chapter, I just had to post it right away. I can't believe winter and Christmas took up an entire chapter, but there you go. Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: All I Want for Christmas

Lillian was very disappointed that it didn't actually snow until it was practically December, and even then Jack said that the early snowfall was unusual. It wasn't even officially Winter yet, but the wind had whispered to Jack about needing snow in Burgess now and Jack hadn't complained.

Jasper was done hanging around and being a nuisance (meaning Jack had to hide a lot and Jasper gave annoyed looks at Lillian whenever he saw her running around, as it meant spring flowers in the fall) and now it was the season of fun!

Jack had already nailed Lillian in an epic snowball fight and they generally had a lot of fun running around the woods. Pitch had made Lillian an extra warm dress and made sure that she wore her heavy black cloak, scarf and gloves at all times.

Lillian impatiently put up with Pitch's mothering and talked incessantly about how Santa was going to come this year, not noticing the grimace on Pitch's face every time 'Santa' was mentioned. Jack also looked a little worried when Lillian excitedly mentioned Santa coming for them and had tried to warn her that she was most likely on the Naughty List and that meant no toys from Santa.

Whenever Jack brought it up, Lillian would pat Jack on the arm and tell him that she had it covered. And so it was early December when North received Lillian's letter. Or more accurately, when Phil (who had temporarily been diverted to letter duty, as North got _so much_ that year) found Lillian's letter.

It messily had 'Santa North Pol' written on the envelope and when Phil opened the letter, his shoulders drooped. He had heard North mention that the child spirit was on the Naughty List.

And so, Phil read the letter:

 _Deer Santa,_

 _I am Lillian. I am a spirut of sprig. Jak is my frend. He is good. He wants yu to no that he is good. He is bad becuz nobudy pays atenshun to him. I am good to. I cant wat for yu to com. I wil be a good girl. Jak sez yu can lev the presunts at his lak for me. We wil wat for yu!_

 _Lov,_

 _Lillian_

 _P.S. Tel Rudulf I say hi._

It was heartbreaking to read. Santa would never come for his favorite spirits and they would have a very sad Christmas. Unless..

A steely glint of determination entered Phil's eyes.

He had some toys to make.

* * *

Bunny had been feverishly painting eggs in his Warren and he noted with irritation that he'd been painting snowflakes on an egg without his noticing. He was _not_ thinking about what to get Jack Frost for Christmas that year.

He recalled their November meeting when Sandy had put his foot down and _insisted_ that the three of them (North didn't count, as Jack and Lillian were on the Naughty List) get both Lillian and Jack Frost Christmas presents.

What on Earth did you get a spirit anyway?!

He huffed in annoyance. They always exchanged gifts with themselves on Christmas morning after North had been up all night, but they didn't vary much. Sandy usually got them a small bag of dreamsand, Tooth handed out toothbrushes and floss religiously and Bunny normally painted them each a special Easter egg.

He realized that giving anything Eastery to Jack would be a huge slap in the face. He also realized that he was still ticked off about Easter that year and would sooner give Jack a rock than an Easter egg.

He set the wintery egg aside and painted an Easter egg that had a basket of eggs on it. He smiled fondly at it, remembering he had painted one just like it for Easter that year. He set it aside in a pile of eggs with various spring scenes on it. The little anklebiter would like them, he just knew it.

He wasn't certain when the new Spring Spirit had been made, but he knew that she must be fairly new yet if she was still getting the hang of her powers. Not knowing what else to get her, he decided to make her an Easter basket filled with eggs that had spring flowers and other things that reminded him of spring on them. Mixed in with the eggs were small trinkets that children liked. He had decided that the finishing touch would be a very nicely written letter once again apologizing for how they met and if she wanted (no pressure), he would be happy to have her over at the Warren sometime for a visit.

Feeling he was very clever with the note, he set about getting the basket ready. The fact that it was only December twelfth didn't matter to him. The eggs would keep in his Warren until the basket was ready to be delivered.

* * *

Mid-December, Lillian decided that she and Jack needed an adventure. The fact that she showed up at the lake at seven a.m. shouting that the 'Lightning Lass' was there, should've tipped Jack off, but Jack was sleeping in his favorite tree and didn't realize they were adventuring until he woke up with a shock and fell out of the tree.

When he sat up, Lillian came bounding over and thrust an outfit at him. Jack groaned when he got a good look at it.

It was blue one-piece that had a depiction of Frosty the Snowman on the chest with white cuffs at the ends of the sleeves and pants and a white cape. Lillian was wearing a similar outfit, except hers was a stormy gray color with black cape that had a yellow underside and there was a storm cloud on the front with a large bolt of lightning coming from it.

Lillian had pouted about having to wear her cloak over it, and her gloves AND her scarf (what superhero wears a scarf?), but that was the only way Pitch would let her leave the lair.

She felt a little bad for getting up so early today, since Pitch had been half-awake when he helped her into her gear and was waiting for the kettle to boil when he shooed the hyperactive child out of the lair for the day, so she could go bother Jack Frost.

That feeling didn't last long however, when she got out into the crisp winter air and ran in her boots to Jack's lake. She really wanted to flower there (what she called it when the Giant Flower of Doom ate her and spit her out places), but she had promised Jack ages ago that she wouldn't ever travel that way to his lake after she almost drowned one time.

Lillian grinned happily at Jack as he looked at the outfit with a mixture of shock and horror.

"Ever since you told me about Frosty, I thought it would be good to add to your costume," she said. "I heard kids talking about Frosty the Snowman, but I never knew you _made_ him."

It had been a matter of deepest shame for Jack, since Jack had been trying to get people's attention with his powers. Instead he had accidentally made the legend of Frosty the Snowman. Even a _snowman_ was more popular than he was!

"You promised you weren't going to tell anyone about that!" Jack complained as he blushed a little.

"I only told Pitch," Lillian said with a shrug.

"..What did he say?" Jack asked hesitantly.

"He said he wondered why kids were having nightmares about talking snowmen that year," Lillian said absently as she gestured at Jack to put the costume on. "Come ooon! We gotta go superheroing!"

"Superheroing?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow unintentionally in a mimicry of Pitch. "Is that what we're doing?"

"Yup," Lillian nodded. "We gotta stop crime! I can use my storms and you can use your winter powers. It'll be fun! I'll even let you use your staff."

Jack shook his head with a smile.

"How are you going to make a thunderstorm in the winter time?"

Lillian paused.

"Um.. I dunno," Lillian finally admitted, looking down.

Jack ruffled her hair, getting her curls to fall out of their bow a little.

"Even if you could make a storm, at most it would just snow. And since snow is _my_ thing.."

Lillian drew away from him and fixed her hair with a mock glare at Jack. She listened to his explanation with all the patience a seven year old could muster (her birthday had passed without her knowledge) and then while he was saying that winter was HIS thing, she bent down and made a snowball.

When Jack was about to explain that spring storms were impossible in the winter anyway, he suddenly found himself with a snowball to the face.

With that, the Epic Snowball Fight of December had begun. Early rising citizens of Burgess that day had to wonder where all the snowballs were coming from.

The fight had started at Jack's lake, then continued on through the forest and finally had transformed from a snowball fight between spirits, to Jack and Lillian throwing snowballs at passersby.

They were not amused.

At nearly eleven, Lillian was taking aim at an unfortunate man in a toupee when she finally noticed all the Christmas decorations that were up. The house the man was at had pretty lights hanging from the roof and she could see a tree was also lit up inside the house.

"Jack, how come there's lights on all over?" Lillian asked.

Jack looked over at Lillian after having just hit a lady trying to walk her dog. The lady had squawked like a parrot and was looking all over, demanding that the hooligan who threw that snowball at her show themselves.

"Those are decorations for Christmas," he explained. "People put them up around Christmastime."

"Oh," Lillian said with a thoughtful look. "How come Pitch didn't put any up? Doesn't he have any?"

Jack tried to think of how to answer _that_ one. Then a grin started to form on his face. Maybe _he_ wouldn't have to do the explaining this time.

"You know, that's a good question. I bet he doesn't have any. We should help him out with that." he said with a devious expression on his face. Pitch would kill him, but it would be SO worth it. "Let's get up extra early tomorrow and surprise him. He'll be so surprised!"

"Yeah!" Lillian jumped up and down, tossing her snowball aside. Then she stopped, looking at Jack with a puzzled look. "Where are we going to get them?"

Jack had then explained that he could help make some with his powers, and they had a whole forest of trees just waiting to be turned into Christmas trees.

Lillian had been happy with that, and she said that she and Jack should look around town for more decorations. People wouldn't mind if they borrowed some, right?

* * *

The next day Pitch was very thankful that Lillian had decided to either sleep in or be very quiet. It seemed like every day that winter she kept waking up earlier and earlier, romping around noisily, proclaiming that Santa would soon be here.

If she wasn't doing that, then she was singing Christmas carols she had learned off-key and pestering Pitch with questions such as if Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was real, had he ever seen Frosty the Snowman and could she try to eat just ONE icicle?

Pitch had shuddered at that last one, knowing icicles were just frozen runoff from who knows _what_ and had expressly forbidden Lillian from eating any.

He had blearily walked from his room to the kitchen, missing the new look his globe room was sporting. He fixed himself a strong cup of tea and as his eyes were finally starting to open, he paused when he heard laughter.

The laughter of a young man and a small child.

Oh dear lord.

What were they up to _now?_

Carrying his mug of tea with him, he made his way to where the laughter was coming from, in the globe room.

He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he entered.

Not only was there an entire _tree_ in there, there was snow everywhere! It was even snowing in the blasted room! And now that he looked, there were icicles dangling all around, and there was even a _snowman_ in the corner.

He looked at the obvious dead tree, with its empty branches and lack of leaves. It wasn't even the right sort of tree to be a Christmas tree, he saw with a grimace. Apparently Jack had tried to rectify this by dousing the tree in a good dose of snow and icicles.

"What are you doing?!" he finally shouted as the entirety of the scene hit him. His globe room was _ruined._

Silence suddenly reined as both Lillian and Jack stared at an enraged Pitch. Jack had realized Pitch would be mad, but he didn't realize that Pitch would be THIS mad.

Lillian for her part, looked stunned. Pitch had never yelled at her before.

Pitch stomped over to the pair and glared at Jack.

"Fix this, _now_ ," he demanded.

"Uh.." Jack said, rubbing the back of his head.

Lillian suddenly burst into tears.

"Y-you're gonna _wreck_ it!" she sobbed. "I th-thought you'd like it..!"

With that, she ran from the room and off to her cave-room.

Jack looked sheepishly at Pitch.

"She wanted to surprise you by decorating for Christmas. We didn't have a lot of decorations, so.." he gave a helpless shrug at all the snow.

Pitch pinched the bridge of his his nose. Christmas decorations. Of course.

"Just.. get rid of the snow and the tree," he said tersely.

Jack's shoulders slumped. Lillian would be so disappointed.

"We'll find something more suitable," Pitch continued, feeling a headache coming on.

He could not WAIT until spring.

* * *

Lillian finally emerged from her room in the late afternoon, sniffling a little. She had taken out her frustrations by drawing a picture of Pitch with a big frowny face and the word 'meanie' on it. Not really knowing how to spell however, she had written 'meni'.

Pitch knew all about her lack of education and decided that both she and Jack would attend human school, as invisible students, after that new year. Lillian wasn't really looking forward to it and Jack was insulted that Pitch wanted him to go to _kindergarten_ , but he soon realized that Pitch didn't want Lillian to attend all by herself. The tricky part was going to be doing all this with no help from the teacher and trying not to get walked through.

Pitch had said that Lillian should continue to attend school until she reached a grade she felt uncomfortable at, and then they would figure out a way for her to study at home. At least this way she wouldn't be so ignorant and it would keep her busy during the daytime so he could actually get some sleep.

He had also decided that she would be visiting the library in the near future.

Lillian wandered dejectedly around the lair, looking for Pitch. She started off at the dining room, then wandered off to the kitchen and then the spring at the back where they bathed at and then even dared to peek into Pitch's dark bedroom.

Not finding him at either of these places, she dragged her feet off to the globe room. She stopped and stared as soon as she entered the room and Jack yelled "Surprise!"

The entire room was properly decorated for Christmas, and a grumpy Pitch was lurking in the background.

Brightly colored garland was strung around near the ceiling and the snowman was gone. In its place was an evergreen tree. It didn't have colored lights on it, but instead was decorated carefully with lit candles. A bucket of water was nearby in case things got out of hand.

Jack had artfully put a little dusting of snow on it and a few icicles. Pitch had found a red blanket tucked away somewhere and that was now at the base of the tree for a tree skirt.

The three-legged plastic reindeer that Lillian had 'rescued' earlier was gone and while there weren't any Santas around and the decorations were simple, Lillian loved them all the same.

She ran over to Pitch and gave him a huge hug, smiling up at him happily.

Pitch took one look at her tearstained cheeks and softened.

"I didn't mean to yell," he said softly to her.

"I'm sorry we made it snow inside," she replied, looking guilty. "We should've asked."

Pitch returned her hug, and realized that as time passed, returning her affections was less awkward then it had been.

He saw Jack smirking at them and hooked an arm around the winter spirit.

Jack squawked out a "Hey!" as he was unwittingly brought into a group hug.

* * *

Phil was dashing around the workshop. He had long since finished repainting the racecars, then dolls _again_ and lastly finished off painting something special.

He had gone from the workshop to the wrapping room, and had a small pile of gifts on a table. Some were decorated in spring green while others had a pattern of snowflakes on them. In addition to these gifts were an Easter basket, two presents wrapped in blue and green and two wrapped in gold. Next to the Easter basket was a small blue bag tied off with a green bow.

The Guardians, more busy than ever, had dropped by earlier that day to ask Phil if he would deliver their gifts to Jack and Lillian. Phil, who had his own plans, was pleased with the arrangement and indicated that it would be no problem.

So that Christmas Eve, while North prepared his sleigh, Phil borrowed one of North's globes. He gibbered in yetish at it and threw it at the ground. It burst into a nighttime scene of Jack's lake.

Feeling immensely satisfied, Phil stepped through the portal with his arms laden with gifts.

* * *

Before Phil was delivering gifts, that Christmas Eve found Jack and Lillian on Lillian's bed, listening to Pitch read them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.' Lillian, who had never heard the story, was fascinated.

She sat up in bed, propped up by her pillow all tucked in with the covers over her. Pitch sat on the edge with Jack sitting at the foot of her bed, sitting cross legged with his elbows resting on his knees, his head propped up by his hands.

His eyes gleamed merrily as Pitch finished reading the story. They both looked over to see Lillian sound asleep, a smile on her face.

Jack smiled until he remembered that the next day would be Christmas.

"You think North's going to come?" Jack asked.

Pitch looked annoyed as he stood up.

"No," he said flatly. "I don't expect any of the Guardians to remember her. Ever since your little run in with the Sandman, you haven't heard anything from them, have you?"

True, they hadn't seen the Guardians since that night. Jack decided not to point out that Lillian had been avoiding them anyway.

"At least she has us," Jack pointed out. "I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

Pitch nodded in confirmation and went to put the book away. He thought about offering Jack a spare room, but before he could decide on it, he felt the winter wind whooshing through his lair as Jack flew away.

* * *

That night, before Jack had gone to sleep, he left a note pinned to his sleeping tree. Phil found it as he stepped out of the portal.

Thankfully he hadn't awoken Jack Frost. He arranged all the gifts around Jack's tree and then took the note.

Phil grumbled in yetish as he read it:

 _Dear Santa,_

 _I know I haven't been the best this year, but please don't take it out on Lillian, the Spirit of Spring. This is her first Christmas and I don't think she understands fully about the Naughty List. She seemed to be under the impression that the Guardians don't help out spirit children anyway. She's been looking forward to you coming all winter and will be very disappointed if you don't come. If you give her one present, I promise I won't prank anyone or cause any trouble for the next five years._

 _Jack Frost_

Phil shook his head at the bargaining (the kids on the Naughty List always tried it), but made sure the presents were arranged all neatly around the tree anyway. He built a tiny little snowman to complete the scene and then used another globe to return back to the North pole.

* * *

The next morning at dawn, an overly excited Jack Frost flew into Pitch's lair and nearly bowled the Christmas tree over. Thankfully the candles hadn't been lit yet, so no harm was done.

He dumped all the presents under the tree and was surprised to see that there already were some under there.

How Pitch managed to find black Christmas wrapping paper, he never knew.

Soon Pitch was up as well as two very excited child spirits were bouncing on his bed declaring that it was Christmas and Santa had come!

Pitch had sat up grumpily at this, but then froze.

 _What?_

A few minutes later, he stared at the Christmas tree, dumbfounded at all the presents under it. Judging by the wrapping paper colors, the Guardians had found it fitting to give Lillian.. ( _and_ Jack?) Christmas presents.

He shook his head as Lillian made a beeline for the tree.

"Freeze!" Pitch said sternly to her.

Lillian froze and looked at him with wide eyes.

" _I'll_ hand out the gifts," Pitch told her.

Soon Lillian and Jack each had a respectable pile of presents, while Pitch had two. He tried to look indifferent to this, but the fact was he hadn't received anything in such a long time and he was touched.

He let Jack and Lillian open theirs first, and they naturally started with the presents from the Guardians.

Sandy had thoughtfully gotten Jack a dreamcatcher, and it had a loop at the top for him to hang from a tree branch over his head. For Lillian, he had gotten her a white stuffed bear that had a red bow around its neck. It wasn't what he would usually hand out, but he realized that he would have to deviate from the norm for a young child.

Tooth had gotten both Lillian and Jack new tooth brushes, floss and tooth brush holders. Jack's was blue while Lillian's was green. Tooth had also gotten Lillian some coloring books that looked like they had come from a dentist's office and a box of crayons.

Bunny had gotten Lillian the Easter basket he had arranged, and a paint-by-number set, featuring the Easter Bunny.

Jack had poked the small blue bag and was stunned to see that the tag read "To: Jack Frost From: E. Aster Bunnymund."

He was even more startled when he opened it to reveal several small, smooth flat stones. They were in various earth tones and each one of them had a painstakingly small winter scene painted on them.

Jack would never know that Sandy had badgered Bunny until he had caved and gotten Jack something.

Jack cradled one of the stones to his chest and told Lillian that he got some dust in his eyes when she asked him what was wrong.

Two lumpy packages each revealed hand-knitted sweaters from Phil and that left the wintery blue and black wrapped gifts.

Jack insisted that they open Pitch's gifts first and Lillian reluctantly agreed.

Lillian had gotten several books from Pitch, as well as a few stuffed animals, some new dresses and a lot of school supplies. Lillian had ran over to Pitch at that and enveloped him in a hug.

Jack had gotten another hand-knitted hoodie, this one black with white snowflakes on it. He grinned at Pitch who scoffed but seemed secretly pleased that his gift was well received.

Pitch in turn, had gotten a drawing of himself, Lillian and Jack near the Christmas tree with big smiles on their faces. It was drawn in pencil since Lillian didn't have any crayons at the time.

Jack had also gotten a drawing of himself sitting up in a tree with what looked remarkably like Frosty the Snowman at the bottom of it.

He flushed at that and hid the drawing away at Lillian's giggles.

While Lillian was giggling away, Pitch opened his present from Jack. He was surprised that the boy had gotten him anything, but then conceded that they had gotten closer that year.

He stared down at the small ice figurine in his hand. It was intricately detailed and had Pitch holding Lillian in his arms, her wearing her flower crown upon her head.

Pitch didn't say anything, but Jack understood.

Lillian had been looking at Pitch curiously, so Jack decided they should open their gifts from Santa next.

These blue wrapped gifts were curiously unlabelled, but Lillian and Jack had assumed that Santa sent them anyway, which was all a part of Phil's plan. It was his way of sending them gifts from 'Santa' without having North actually send them anything.

He was hoping that the big guy would be too busy to notice.

Jack and Lillian had both gotten several carved wooden toys that were hand painted, several children's books for Lillian and big book of Myths and Fairy Tales that had one about Jack Frost in it.

Jack had hugged the book to his chest and with both their eyes sparkling Lillian and Jack declared this the best Christmas _ever_.

When North and the Guardians were finishing up their little Christmas party, an excited Bunny had gestured at the globe.

There sitting side by side were two blue lights near Burgess, shining the brightest they ever had.

* * *

Author's Note: So what do you think? I bet you were surprised that there was practically no angst in it, eh? Thank goodness for Phil. The next chapter probably won't be up until sometime this weekend or Monday. Let me know if you have any ideas for the story and I'll see about including them.


	13. Chapter 13: Through the Years Pt 1

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed. To the reviewer waiting for the other shoe to drop, well.. I can't give away any of the story, but you DO remember what happened in the movie, right? Dun dun duuun. This chapter features some time skipping around and snapshots of a few things that happened to Lillian and Jack during their years. They also get to meet Sandy again under more favorable circumstances, even if a certain child spirit is going through a rebellious phase. We also get to see a bit of what Pitch is up to.. Bad Pitch!

Chapter Thirteen: Through the Years Part 1

After the new year, Lillian found herself wearing a backpack filled with school supplies. Lillian was amused that Jack had a backpack as well, and that the backpack had the dogs from One Hundred and One Dalmatians on it. Her own backpack was a mixture of pink and blue and had Sleeping Beauty on it.

Lillian had pointed out her backpack was the best because it had both her and Jack's favorite colors on it.

"You remember the plan, right?" Jack asked her as they walked into town.

"Yup," Lillian said. "No spring or winter magic in the classroom, don't draw funny pictures on the chalk board and listen to the teacher. If you gotta write stuff, do it in a corner where nobody will see you. And Jack, you make sure you watch over Lillian.." she paused dramatically and mock-glared at Jack. "Or _else_."

Jack laughed at Lillian's imitation of the speech Pitch gave, but Jack wasn't forgetting the look Pitch gave him in a hurry. He knew this was important to Pitch, and Pitch felt she should start from the beginning.

Soon they found themselves in front of a school building, with some kids playing on the playground equipment, and others streaming into the building. Lillian started to walk more slowly and hung back. She suddenly wished that Pitch had been able to come, since the school seemed so much bigger this close up.

As she looked at the building, she could see the windows looked more like eyes and the doors were a big mouth that was eating kids up. She wondered suddenly about how big the school was and if you could get lost in there. Maybe she'd be lost for hours and Pitch wouldn't be able to find her!

She was so lost in her thoughts, she jumped when Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with wide eyes and he gave her a soft smile in return.

"It'll be ok," Jack reassured her. "I'll be right there with you."

With that, he took hold of her hand and led her inside. Lillian looked all around and saw that there were a few hallways leading off from this entryway. There were a lot of things posted on the walls, such as pictures in frames and a few drawings that some art class had made.

Jack pointed out where the little kids were going and they followed. Soon they found themselves in a small classroom where a woman was smiling at all the children. She looked very friendly.

"Too bad she can't see us," Lillian said as she and Jack got comfortable at the back of the classroom.

"If she could, she'd probably wonder why I'm here," Jack said with a smile.

Lillian and Jack spent the rest of the day singing along with the class, painting a picture (Lillian drew with her crayons since for some reason Pitch 'forgot' to get her any paints. Jack secretly thought this was wise since Lillian kept wondering aloud what she'd paint on her walls back at home if she could), and lastly concentrating on learning the alphabet. After that the teacher read them a story, and before Lillian and Jack knew it, their day of kindergarten was over.

Lillian, who hadn't wanted to go to school in the first place, was a little sad when their first day was over. Jack pointed out that since there was still much of the daytime left that they could always do a little work at home. He said it would probably help Lillian learn how to read better.

Lillian wasn't too crazy about that until Jack pointed out that she could better understand comic books. He had been very startled when a giant flower ate BOTH him and Lillian, and soon they were deposited right into Lillian's room.

Lillian had grinned when Jack face planted into a wall and then raced to get her book on fairy tales.

So, a routine was born. In the early afternoon, she and Jack would go to school. Then they would come home to practice reading for a bit and then they would go outside to work on Lillian's spring powers some more and generally goof around.

On the weekends Lillian insisted she needed a break from school work, so she and Jack solely worked on her spring powers or Lillian suggested they wander off to go find some comics to read.

This went on for a few months until it was March. Lillian felt like March snuck up on her, and Jack explained it only felt like that since they were so busy. Lillian was excited since soon it was going to be Easter, and that meant collecting Easter eggs.

She was lounging around by Jack's lake with Jack one weekend while they were discussing how many eggs they were going to collect. Jack hadn't wanted to participate, but Lillian said that the Easter Bunny got them both Christmas presents, so he wouldn't mind, right?

Jack wasn't so certain, but let the subject drop for now.

"Jack?" Lillian asked as she threw a rock into the lake.

Normally Jack kept the lake frozen year round, but Lillian had wanted to skip rocks, so he had let it unfreeze for awhile. For some reason this made him uneasy and he didn't like how the rocks Lillian chucked into the lake splashed into the water.

He tore his gaze away from the ripples in the middle of the lake.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"The Easter Bunny asked me to visit him in his letter, right?" Lillian asked, her voice sounding a little smaller than normal.

Shortly after opening their gifts and declaring it the best Christmas ever, Jack had read Bunny's letter to Lillian out loud.

Pitch had scoffed at it, but hadn't told Lillian not to go. He knew she wouldn't. That blasted pooka had ruined his chances and good riddance.

"Yeah.." Jack said slowly, not really knowing where Lillian was going with this.

"..Do.. you think I should go..?" Lillian asked uncertainly as she tossed another rock into the lake.

Even though she said she was skipping the stones, she really was just throwing them in with a big splash.

"Uh.." Jack said, distracted by the sound of the rock hitting the water. "Do you want to go?"

Lillian shrugged.

"I don't think Pitch wants me to," Lillian said. "He doesn't like the Guardians 'cuz they didn't help me out after I first met him. I don't want Pitch to be mad at me."

Jack scratched the back of his head. Hoo boy.

"I don't think Pitch would be mad at you," Jack said, while wondering how Pitch really would feel if Lillian went to visit Bunny.

Maybe a _little_ upset.

"I think.." Lillian said hesitantly. "I think I'll wait a few years. The Easter Bunny never said _when_ to visit."

Jack blinked at her.

"That's.. really mature of you."

Lillian stuck her tongue out at him in response.

* * *

Soon Easter came, and Jack and Lillian had fun searching for eggs in the forest. Lillian pointed out the clearing that she had first met Pitch at to Jack, and as they wandered more to the edge of the woods, they found quite a few Easter eggs, but no Bunny.

Jack suggested they wander to the park, and sure enough there were more eggs and children as well.

Lillian was having such a good time finding eggs that she forgot to watch out for other kids.

Jack winced when he saw a small boy run right through Lillian.

Lillian dropped her Easter basket in surprise and stumbled a little, clutching her chest. It made her feel so _empty_.

Before she knew it she was in Jack's arms as Jack moved her just in time to avoid being run through again.

"The first time is the worst," Jack said softly to her. "Even then, you don't really get used to it."

Lillian sniffled and buried her face in Jack's sweatshirt. She never told Jack, but Jack had the fluffiest hoodie that made his shoulder almost as good as Pitch's to cry on.

Jack rubbed her back as he felt her tears getting his hoodie wet.

"You want to go somewhere else?"

Lillian shook her head.

"I wanna go home.. We have enough eggs, right?"

Jack laughed a little.

"Only enough for an army. We'll be eating eggs for a long time."

Keeping a hold of Lillian, he carefully scooped up her Easter basket. Jack called for wind to take them home as he awkwardly juggled two Easter baskets, his staff and Lillian in his arms.

If they had only stayed a minute later, they might have seen Bunny hop out of a hole, ears twitching to see if he could spot the two spirits.

* * *

The Guardians, Lillian and Jack continued to have near misses. Jack and Lillian hadn't really met with any of the Guardians, despite the Guardians' best efforts. The Guardians couldn't have known that during the daytime that Jack and Lillian were at human school, nor at nighttime that Lillian was usually at Pitch's. It was rare for Lillian to be out after dark, as she was still somewhat avoiding the Sandman and Pitch didn't like her to be out that late.

So it wasn't until Jack and Lillian finished elementary school that they finally ran into Sandy one night on a weekend. Lillian was excited to be done with the fifth grade and felt she had a good grasp on reading and writing now. It was the middle of summer, and Pitch had already left to go spread nightmares.

It took a _lot_ of pleading on Lillian's part, but she finally got Pitch to agree to a sleepover with Jack. While Pitch had agreed to a sleepover, he hadn't insisted that Jack and Lillian stay at home, so they snuck out.

Jack didn't like the heat as he called it, even though it wasn't a hot summer night. Lillian thought it was perfect out, but Jack had asked the wind to keep a cool breeze on him.

Pitch's place was actually perfect for Jack, since it was underground and a series of caves, so it was naturally quite cool. Lillian thought it was great in summer, but in the winter time it got pretty cold. It was the one time that Lillian wished Pitch had electricity, so they could have a heater.

Jack and Lillian wandered around town, happily chatting away about Lillian's favorite subject: comics.

"And they just came out with these neat comics that are giant-size! They're extra long." Lillian gushed.

Jack shook his head.

"Don't tell me you're stalking kids at the grocery store again," Jack said.

Lillian sometimes liked to wait around the grocery store to see if any kids bought any comics she wanted to read. She would then follow that kid home and then later on sneak into their house to read the comic.

"It's not my fault I don't have any money!" Lillian pouted. "And the library is SO behind on their comics."

Jack ruffled Lillian's hair.

"You know, when Pitch said he wanted you to read more, I don't think he meant giant-sized comic books."

Lillian rolled her eyes.

"Pitch wants me to read _A Wrinkle in Time_ , but I'm reading _The Hobbit_."

Jack smirked at that.

"Let me guess.. You liked the word 'hobbit' and decided to try reading it."

"Duh," Lillian said with a smile.

"Do you like it?" Jack asked, curious.

While Jack had a lot of time on his hands, he didn't actually read all that much. He usually was too busy spending time with Lillian and Pitch or else messing with people and spreading Winter.

Lillian nodded.

"I feel bad for Mr. Baggins though. He likes being boring and staying at home and all these dwarves show up and mess up his house! Then this wizard guy.. uh.. Gandalf, I think, tells the dwarves that Mr. Baggins is a thief! He sounds kind of mean," Lillian said. "But I haven't gotten too far yet, so I don't know for sure."

Jack and Lillian were so busy discussing books, that they failed to notice the golden cloud descending towards them until it was right in front of their faces. They were startled to see Sandy magically appear before them.

Sandy smiled at the pair, who looked pretty much the same as the last time he had seen them, all those years ago.

Jack felt a little awkward since while they exchanged Christmas presents every year, he never had gotten to know the Sandman or any of the other Guardians. They had time to send him and Lillian gifts, but they didn't have time to spend with them, it seemed.

Sandy waved at Lillian and was delighted to get a shy wave back from the girl. She also wasn't hiding behind Jack this time, he noted.

Having put the kidnapping incident with Bunny far behind her, Lillian no longer felt so afraid of all the Guardians.

Sandy made a golden picture of a clock, then he pointed at the both of them.

Jack exchanged a guilty look with Lillian. They were both out way past their bedtime.

"Um.." Lillian said, thinking frantically. "Pi-!"

Jack had hurriedly covered Lillian's mouth as she was about to say something about Pitch.

"She means that we're sorry to be out so late and it'll never happen again," Jack covered for her.

He gave Lillian a warning look, and Lillian suddenly realized she was about to give away that she and Jack both knew the Boogeyman. She had forgotten about her promise.

Sandy raised an eyebrow at the two. They were up to something and he knew it. He looked from one guilty face to the next and decided to go easy on them. There was no point in pushing for information when he hardly knew them. He knew it would do no good to push them away now.

Sandy made a picture of a bed appear above his head and once again pointed at the two spirits. Then he crossed his arms and gave them a stern look.

Lillian pouted at this, since she wasn't even tired.

"You're not my dad!" she exclaimed.

It was something she heard a kid say a little while ago, and she'd been waiting to try this phrase out on somebody bossy.

Sandy gave Jack a look as if to say "Really?"

Jack looked sheepish.

"She's got this rebellion thing going on," he explained to Sandy. "She's driving - er.. _everyone_ crazy."

Sandy wondered who everyone was, but merely rolled his eyes at Lillian. Then he held up one finger.

Lillian looked puzzled until Sandy held up two fingers.

"You can't count at me!" she said suddenly, realizing that Sandy was using that parenting trick, where the parents would count and if the kid didn't do what they wanted, then the kid would _really_ be in trouble.

Sandy held up three fingers and gave Lillian a 'don't make me do this' sort of look.

It took Lillian about two seconds to cave.

"Fine," she huffed. "We were going home anyway."

Sandy pretended he didn't notice her stick her tongue out at him as she and Jack left.

He gave them a good ten minute head start before he headed to Jack's lake. He was surprised to see that neither of them were there.

He thoroughly searched the area, but they didn't seem to be anywhere. Sandy gave a silent sigh of disappointment, since he was planning on giving the two spirits very good dreams.

With a shrug, he flew off to go spread good dreams elsewhere.

* * *

Inbetween school, run-ins with Sandy at night and all the other hijinks they got up to, Jack and Lillian also found plenty of time to try and break into the North Pole.

Phil always caught them, and despite Jack's claims every year that they would both be on the naughty list and get nothing from Santa, 'Santa' always came every year for them.

Lillian told Jack that it was because she was so awesome, so they always got gifts. Jack knew she was just teasing however and laughed whenever she said it.

North still remained mostly oblivious to the break in attempts, although he did wonder why Phil always seemed so extra busy every year around Christmas time.

Lillian had also started a new tradition with Jack: Pranking Salem on Halloween.

Salem was the Halloween spirit whose very presence seemed to annoy Pitch, so Lillian figured Pitch wouldn't mind much if she and Jack tried to scare the spirit. So far the closest they had come was when Lillian found that tall guy in the black robe with the pointy thingy again.

She asked Mr. Dark and Scary Guy if he would go up to Salem and wave his pointy thinger around.

Mr. Dark and Scary said he needed something to break up the monotony, and agreed.

"My job is deadly boring," he had said, in a voice that somehow sounded like coffin lids closing. "You haven't seen a wizard, have you?"

Lillian indicated that she saw a Merlin wandering around somewhere, and the Scary Guy sighed.

Jack and Lillian had watched, highly amused as the Scary Guy got the drop on Salem. Salem was also dressed up in a long black cloak and was carrying a fake scythe around. Salem had said something to the Scary Guy, and the Scary Guy lowered his hood to reveal a skull!

Even though the skull was grinning, there seemed to be a gloomy sort of menace around him.

Salem's eyes had widened at the Scary Guy and screamed that he didn't want to die, before he ran off.

Lillian and Jack both goggled at what seemed to be Death, as Death gloomily put his hood back up. He saw a passing cat and with a quick movement from his scythe, he took five of the cat's nine lives.

He also killed a gnat, but it didn't quite give him the same satisfaction that it would have if he had _finally_ killed that dratted wizard. The wizard just didn't know how to keep an appointment!

Death stalked off towards his white steed, deciding to go looking in another dimension. It was highly depressing when small children asked you for favors, such as scaring people.

It was also that Halloween that Pitch made an important discovery. He had crawled out from under a small child's bed in order to scare him, but he had discovered that Sandy had already been there, since Pitch could see the golden dream hovering over the boy's head.

Furious, Pitch had swiped at the good dream, and as his grey fingers made contact with the golden sand, it had turned a deadly black.

The boy whimpered in his sleep as the good dream vanished.

Astonished, Pitch also found that he could manipulate this new black sand. With that, he gave an evil grin.

Oh he had plans for _this_.

* * *

Pitch had secretly been amassing large amounts of the black sand whenever he could. The trickiest part wasn't hiding all this from the Sandman, but hiding it from Lillian.

He discovered he could turn the sand into black horses (which he called his Nightmares), but he was having a hard time finding somewhere big enough to hide the sand. He finally settled for keeping a little at the lair, in an unused room and having the rest roam the Earth, hiding away from the Guardians.

So far this plan seemed to be working. He didn't count on Lillian though. He knew the Nightmares were attracted to children and loved spreading nightmares around. Pitch was quite happy at the increase of fear, as that also meant an increase of power to him.

He never realized that his Nightmares would also be attracted to _spirit_ children.

So it was one night when he was out collecting more of the black sand that he had that urge to go home. Something was terribly wrong.

He was tempted to shake the feeling off, but he hadn't had this feeling in years and it had never steered him wrong yet.

Grumbling to himself that if Jack had made it snow in the lair _again.._

That thought trailed off as Pitch blended in with the shadows and went home. As he stepped out from the shadows in the globe room, he knew immediately he had made the right choice as he heard Lillian cry out.

Hurriedly, he ran to her room to see her still in bed, thrashing around. She had kicked her covers off and to his horror he saw that she had _black sand_ hovering over her head.

The sand was an indistinct shape, as if it didn't know what form to take as it spread its poisonous nightmare to Lillian.

Pitch could see tears on Lillian's face and she whimpered in her sleep.

"..M-mommy..!" her small voice cried out.

Pitch's eyes widened at that, but then his gaze hardened. The black sand, his Nightmares, were giving Lillian bad dreams about a past she couldn't even remember. He knew that the memories were still in her mind however, and that was what the Nightmare was using to give Lillian her nightmare.

He stomped over to Lillian's bed and viciously yanked the black sand away from her. Lillian cried out in her sleep as the nightmare was harshly yanked away. Soon her bad dreams faded away into nothingness.

Since Sandy's golden dreamsand couldn't reach Lillian here, there weren't any sweet dreams to take the nightmare's place. Pitch frowned as Lillian's dreams faded away into nothingness.

He would need a way to rectify that, but it wouldn't be tonight. Hissing at the Nightmare that it would be _extremely_ sorry if it ever bothered Lillian again, he sent it away to go join its brethren.

Looking a little guilty, Pitch tucked Lillian back into bed. As he smoothed down some of her curls, he wondered if he should stop messing around with this corrupted dreamsand.

Then the thought of finally getting believers entered his head and the thought of defeating Sandy came right along with it.

No.

He'd continue corrupting the dreamsand.

He'd just have to be more careful from now on.

* * *

Author's Note: So now we're leading into the movie a little more as Pitch discovers his Nightmares. I also couldn't help having another cameo with Death. I felt bad the last cameo was practically non-existent, so I made this one a little longer. The next chapter will feature more time skips through the years, since I realized I didn't actually have Lillian and Jack do all that much. If you have any suggestions for hijinks they can get up to, that would be great. :) I think I'm pretty much done with showing major holidays for now, since they would be repetitive. If the time skips aren't tooo long, then we'll get into the movie a bit. Or if not the actual movie, then some events that would take place _before_ the movie that lead into the movie. If that makes sense. Anyway, I'll be working on the next update and it will come out.. well, within the next week definitely. If I get super inspiration this weekend, it could even come out then. We'll see.


	14. Chapter 14: Through the Years Pt 2

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, etc. That excerpt from the book on Pitch's past is SO sad. Now I feel bad about him being all evil, since he couldn't really help it. :( Oh and to the reviewer who likes _The Color of Magic_ and _The Hogfather_ , I hope you know that all that comes from the Discworld book series, which is very awesome. Anyway, this chapter features more about Pitch turning to the Dark Side and just some silly randomness through the years.

Chapter Fourteen: Through the Years Part 2

Despite Pitch's declaration, Lillian kept having nightmares off and on throughout the years. Sometimes the nightmares were very vivid, and she'd wake up in the middle of the night certain that a super villain was lurking around, waiting to get her. Other times her nightmares were very vague, but it was these vague nightmares that bothered her the most. She usually woke up crying from those ones.

Pitch's sixth sense sometimes worked and he'd be there when Lillian woke up. Other times it seemed to be out of whack and Lillian would wake up alone. Pitch used to ask what her nightmares were about, and seemed bothered when sometimes Lillian couldn't tell him. All she could remember was someone yelling something, but she couldn't even remember the words that were spoken. Lillian had asked Pitch why sometimes she couldn't remember, and Pitch told her that was the way that dreams worked.

Lillian believed him at first, but as the years went on and the nightmares persisted, she thought that there had to be something else going on. What it was, she didn't know, but she thought it must have something to do with the room she wasn't allowed in. There were always noises coming from it, and she thought at first Pitch had guests over and hadn't told her. Pitch had caught her on the verge of going in and he had actually _yelled_ at her.

Lillian had tearfully run away to Jack's lake after that and only returned when Pitch was on the verge of leaving. Pitch had distractedly tucked her in after a quick dinner and didn't even apologize for yelling at her, as he usually did. He only told her to stay out of that room and that whatever was inside didn't concern her.

Lillian didn't like that, and she didn't like how Pitch seemed to be changing. He was usually so nice to her and he was very good about caring for her. But lately, he seemed more and more distant and his once somewhat kind demeanor was becoming more harsh. Lillian had caught him on more than one occasion muttering about how it wasn't time yet and he would soon get _him,_ whoever this 'him' was.

Lillian shared her concerns about Pitch with Jack and Jack had shrugged, not knowing what to do about how Pitch was changing either.

Jack had said that maybe it was because Pitch was old and was going through a mid-life crisis, but Lillian doubted it. Pitch didn't even have gray hair!

Lillian had playfully found a t-shirt for Pitch that said 'I'm not sure if life is passing me by or trying to run me over!', but Pitch had actually growled and told her to stop playing around. Lillian had looked up at him with hurt pooling in her eyes, but he had already stalked off, telling her that he was busy and that she should go outside to play.

Go outside to play. It seemed that's all that Pitch wanted anymore, was to be left alone. Lillian wound up spending even more time with Jack. Jack had convinced Lillian to go to Junior High with him. Lillian didn't have any of the insecurities that normal sixth graders had, since none of the kids could see her and she didn't have to worry about fitting in. Not to mention Jack was right there with her. She found the subjects challenging and was more than happy to absorb herself in learning again.

Junior High eventually gave way to High School and it was in the middle of high school that Lillian discovered her love of science fiction. She happily spent a good deal of her time reading, and after discovering _A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ , she had fun asking Jack where his towel was. Jack, who hadn't heard of the book, was perplexed and asked Lillian why he would have a towel. Lillian had burst into giggles and then asked Jack if he had a fish in his ear.

Jack decided that it was better not to ask.

Meanwhile, Pitch had collected vast amounts of the black sand. It seemed the more he collected however, the more powerful and the more obsessed he became. He was certain that eventually he'd vanquish the Sandman and then kids would have nothing but nightmares! He'd have so many believers. It would be _glorious_. He didn't realize that in his quest for believers, he was pushing his very first one away. He hadn't realized that Lillian was spending more time away from home, and when she was there she was usually doing homework or absorbed in a book.

At first she would try to get Pitch to talk to her about what she was reading, but when he seemed distracted and disinterested, she stopped trying. So Lillian would find other places to read.

Sometimes she'd stay out later at night, since Pitch had stopped insisting she be in at dark. She'd perfected her way of traveling so when it was spring time, she was allowed out late so she could go spread spring. She had become very adept at spreading spring, despite the fact that she never took Bunny up on his offer of help.

Bunny for his part, hadn't offered again and Lillian felt strange about just asking to show up. That, and she was certain that Pitch didn't really want her to go anyway. For awhile, she had tried to get Pitch to pay more attention to her and she had reverted back to the way she was when she first came to Pitch's, only clingier.

She had started following Pitch around the lair, asking him to read her stories like he used to. Pitch had finally snapped and told her that she should be old enough to read to herself. Lillian had lugged her book of fairy tales away dispiritedly and didn't ask him again.

Lillian, who was usually so full of life and energy, had become more quiet and introspective by the end of high school. Jack had remained the same fun-loving prankster, but he noticed that his friend seemed more quiet and weary. So he did what he always did: he got Lillian to play pranks with him.

It had started innocently the year after they finished high school. It was 1982 and February the 14th. Couples were happily enjoying the unusual spring day by wandering around the park hand in hand.

Jack had found Lillian at said park, book in hand. She was rereading _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ and ignoring all the couples. Even though the book was supposed to be funny, he could see the solemn look on her face. It was times like this that Jack wanted to shake Pitch and make him see what he was doing to Lillian with his impatience and indifference.

True, Lillian was old enough to look after herself now, but she was and forever would be a child at heart. A child that needed a parent who cared about her. Shaking his head to rid himself of these thoughts he concentrated and called up a single snowflake. He had worked hard to perfect this and Lillian would be the perfect test subject.

Lillian looked up from her book as she felt the familiar cold winter breeze. She blinked as a single snowflake landed gently on the tip of her nose. She thought she had seen some blue sparkles, indicating some winter magic, but soon that thought vanished as she began to grin.

All her worries about Pitch melted away as suddenly she felt so happy and carefree. She spotted Jack and waved happily at him. She closed her book and leaped up from the bench she had been sitting on and ran over to him.

"Hi, Jack!" she said happily.

Jack was pleased to see that his special snowflake had worked, but was sad that it took magic to get Lillian to act like her old self.

"Hey," Jack said hitching a smile on his face.

It was the smile he wore whenever he didn't want people to know he was upset. Lillian could always see right through it, but this time she didn't as his winter magic was busy distracting her.

"You want to play a prank?" he asked her with a smirk.

Lillian grinned at that, always ready for some fun.

"Let me guess.. Cupid, right?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's forgotten about that last prank," Jack said.

"Ohh!" Lillian said with a devious smirk. "We could send him a love letter from one of the other spirits! We could then send a letter from him to _that_ spirit and have them meet somewhere."

Jack was wondering about his special snowflake as that sounded a little mean.

"I don't know.." Jack said. "What if the spirit really liked Cupid and Cupid hurt her feelings?"

"We can send the letter to the Tooth Fairy. It'll get her back out in the field and we'll _finally_ get to see what she looks like. It'll be the bomb," Lillian said, trying out some slang she heard some kids say.

Unlike Pitch, Lillian liked to keep up on the current terms. She still hadn't convinced Pitch to get with it and make her some current clothes. Much to her dismay, she still had to go around in those little kid dresses with a ribbon tied in her hair. She had tried to explain to Pitch once that she wasn't a little kid anymore and girls actually wore pants now, but Pitch hadn't wanted to hear it.

Jack raised an eyebrow at that.

"You think the Tooth Fairy will want to meet with Cupid for a romantic date?"

Lillian giggled at that.

"No, but I think she'd show up just to tell him no in person. Besides, have you _seen_ Cupid? He's gorgeous! I'm glad he doesn't look anything like the stereotypical Cupid. Is Cupid even his real name?" she asked.

Jack shrugged.

"He's never introduced himself to me," Jack pointed at himself, "Troublemaker, remember? It doesn't exactly make me popular."

"Well, we can give a letter to Cupid when we see him out and tonight we can give a letter to one of Tooth's fairies. Remember that one that we always see around town? We can give it to her. We just have to be sneaky and not get caught by the Sandman again." she said with a grin.

Jack sighed at that.

"I swear he always comes around here at dark, so he can tell us to go to bed."

So Lillian and Jack went about executing their prank. Much to their dismay however, Tooth had sent a response back with one of her fairies, thanking Cupid for the offer but that she was far too busy to date and that she wasn't interested. She reminded him to brush regularly and floss and said that she hoped he could find that special someone.

Jack had moped around at that, as he was really hoping to get one over on Cupid and as he and Lillian were trying to come up with another prank, Sandy showed up again to remind them that it was bed time.

The last time Lillian had seen Sandy, she had declared that he wasn't her dad and she didn't have to listen to him.

This time she gave Sandy a look.

"Chill, dude," she told him. "It's not even ten yet. It's not time for bed, is it Jack?"

Sandy looked surprised at being told to 'chill' by what essentially looked like a six year old. Mentally she was much older, but it was still a little strange.

Jack rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well.." he said, since it _was_ getting to be time to go home.

Sandy merely smiled at the pair of child spirits. He gamely tossed a ball of dreamsand up and down and gave Lillian a look in return.

Lillian crossed her arms grumpily at that.

"I don't have to go to bed now! Besides, Jack and I were plotting. How can we plot when we're asleep?"

Sandy raised an eyebrow at that. Good people do not plot.

Jack looked sheepish.

"We weren't up to anything! Really!"

Lillian opened her mouth to tell the Sandman to go away, but before she knew it she and Jack were both hit with Sandy's dreamsand.

Not wanting to give the child spirits a chance to get away again, Sandy hit them both before they could think of disappearing.

Sandy didn't look at the good dreams the pair were having as he took them back to Jack's lake. If he had, he might have been surprised.

While Jack was dreaming about having a snowball fight, Lillian had a golden Pitch hovering over her head. The golden Pitch had a small child in his arms and he was reading her a story.

* * *

Several years later, Lillian was somewhat back to her more playful self. She had come to terms with the fact that Pitch wasn't going to revert back to the nice Pitch and their evenings of Pitch reading aloud to her were over.

It bothered Lillian at first, but now she was once again distracted by the world of super heroes and didn't mind as much.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the spring in your mattress that pokes you, keeping you awake! I am Darkwiiiing Duck!" Lillian shouted as she startled Jack out of his tree.

It was the beginning of winter and Jack was surprised to see that Lillian was wearing a cape and a hat with a wide brim. Lillian also had a dark purple mask on to match her cape and hat. In place of a jacket she had on a purple turtleneck.

"Cool, huh?" Lillian said with a grin. "I got Pitch to make it for me. He didn't want to, but I gave him a big guilt trip, since I had to go as a ghost for Halloween this year. How lame was that anyway? I cut two holes in a sheet! Even Salem laughed at my costume."

"So you got Pitch to make you next year's costume?" Jack asked in confusion.

Lillian laughed and shook her head.

"Nope, this is just for play. Here, check out your costume!" she threw a costume at Jack's head and Jack groaned to see that he had a red and black version of Lillian's costume.

"Negaduck, really?" Jack complained. "He's a total psychopath! He thinks playing with bombs is fun! In fact, didn't he try to go after Darkwing with a tommy gun once?"

"It's either that or we can pretend to be Chip and Dale from _Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers._ "

"I think I'll take the duck," Jack said with a sigh.

* * *

Several years after that, found the Guardians in North's workshop. They had just gotten a message from Manny that declared Jack Frost a Guardian.

Bunny was adamant that Jack wouldn't be up to the job and skeptical as to if it really was Pitch that North had seen.

He reluctantly agreed that it had been Pitch however, when the Moon had shone brightly, showing a shadow of Pitch.

Pitch, for his part, had decided to show off his power to the Guardians and decided taunting them wouldn't hurt. He realized he was taking a big risk, but he had amassed _so much_ black sand and he was more powerful than ever.

Nobody could stop him!

So that found the Guardians all arguing about how to best get Jack to the North Pole.

"I say we get yeti to throw boy in sack and take portal here," North said, oblivious to the horrified look on Tooth's face.

"We don't want to scare him!" Tooth exclaimed. "Even if we have gotten him gifts every year, we don't really _know_ him. What if Sandy went to get him? Sandy's met with Jack before and they're sort of friends, right?"

Sandy nodded emphatically as Bunny grumbled.

Bunny was about to ask about Lillian, when North loudly clapped his hands and said that they should go get Jack that very night.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter was sad to write. Pitch and Lillian are growing apart due to Pitch's growing obsession with getting rid of Sandy and getting himself some believers. He always wanted believers before, but ever since he found out about the black sand, it seemed like his goal was actually obtainable, thus his lust for power and him becoming a bit more evil. At least she has Jack. Anyway, the beginning of the movie is the next chapter and I've decided that it'll take place in 2012, when the movie came out. Hopefully Pitch will realize what's going on with him and Lillian he'll try to fix it before it's too late. We'll just have to see! As always, if you have any ideas for plot you'd like me to include, just let me know via a review or pm. Thanks for reading! :)


	15. Chapter 15: Rise of the Guardians

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who faved, followed and reviewed! So the movie has begun. You'll have to pardon my version of the movie, since I'm going off of memory here. So far not too much is different, but bear with me. Things will definitely be different once Pitch is involved..

Chapter Fifteen: Rise of the Guardians

Jack had noticed that Lillian seemed down, so he suggested that they go spread a little winter around, since it was now winter time in Burgess and other parts of the world. Lillian had merely shrugged at the offer. It was day time in Burgess so Pitch was asleep and wouldn't notice they were gone.

Not that she was sure that he'd notice anyway. But it was difficult to be depressed while she was flying high over cities and countries and soon she was giggling. She was wearing a spring green dress with a matching bow in her hair and she had her black cloak tied very securely around her shoulders. She also had on earmuffs since her hood wouldn't stay up in the wind, plus she also had on a scarf, gloves and her boots.

Lillian pointed down at a city and Jack grinned in response. Soon Jack was having fun freezing the street, causing people to slip. Lillian giggled when Jack froze a water fountain for a poor boy and a goldfish's tank.

"That was fun!" Lillian said to Jack as Jack flew them around with the wind's help.

After spending a few more hours wandering around and spreading frost and snow, Jack had them head back to Burgess.

"Snoooow daaay~!" Jack gleefully declared.

Ever since he and Lillian had gone to school, Jack had a much greater appreciation for snow days and tried to give the kids of Burgess as many as he could without causing _too_ much trouble.

"Yeah!" Lillian cheered along with Jack as they came in for a landing by the lake.

The gust of wind that blew in when they landed knocked a book out of a boy's hands. The boy had messy brown hair and brown eyes and seemed small for his age.

"Hey, look!" Lillian pointed at the boy. "That's Jamie Bennet! He's that kid who believes in practically _anything_."

"Almost anything," Jack said with a tinge of sadness.

Lillian patted Jack's arm and walked over by Jamie. She got a look at the book's cover and could see it was all about the mysteries of the world.

"Ohh," Lillian said. "You think he'd mind if I borrowed his book?"

Jack laughed a little at that.

"He'd probably think that Bigfoot took it!"

Twin boys came running up to Jamie to declare that it was a snow day.

"You're welcome!" Jack called out playfully to the kids as they walked away from Jack's lake and to Jamie's house.

Jack and Lillian decided to follow after, both for their own reasons. Lillian was hoping that Jamie would put his book down so she could 'borrow' it and Jack wanted to see if the kids would be up to anything fun today. Even if they couldn't see him, Jack loved hanging around all the children.

Soon Jamie and all his friends were hanging around his house while Jamie bored them all with facts about Bigfoot.

"You'll believe anything," one of the boys said with an eye roll.

"Bigfoot IS real!" Jamie insisted.

While Jamie was talking with his friends, his little sister Sophie came outside. She tried to sit down on their greyhound who was laying on the ground, but the dog got up and walked away, not interested in giving out rides.

Sophie wound up tripping and falling over, starting to cry.

"Oh no!" Lillian said as she hurried over.

None of the kids seemed to notice the extra footprints in the snow, or that the snow had started to melt a little. Lillian might have good control over her powers, but for some reason she couldn't control the fact that things melted where she stood and spring flowers had a tendency to sprout up where she walked. She wasn't sure why this was, but she figured if it hadn't changed in over thirty years, she was stuck with it.

"Mom! Sophie fell down!" Jamie called out, not overly concerned.

Jamie's mom soon came out and scooped little Sophie up in her arms. His mom gave Jamie an annoyed look.

"Jamie, hat? You don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose!"

"Who's Jack Frost?" Jamie asked with interest.

Lillian looked over at Jack with surprise. Someone knew who he was!

A smile started to spread on Jack's face as hope entered his eyes. Maybe he'd finally get a believer.

"He's nobody," Jamie's mom said dismissively. "It's just an expression."

"Oh," Jamie said, a little disappointed by that.

"Are you kidding?!" Lillian loudly exclaimed as the kids left Jamie's yard to go run off and play at the nearby park.

"Should we show them who Jack Frost is?" Jack asked Lillian with a grin.

Lillian noticed that while Jack wanted to have fun, it hurt him to have that silly expression going around and not have anybody believe in him.

She figured one or more of their experiments to get Jack some believers must have worked, if people had heard of Jack Frost. It's just that most people believed that Jack was a fictional character!

"Yeah," Lillian said with a smirk.

So Jack and Lillian followed after the kids. Jack had grabbed some snow and formed it into a snowball. He blew on it gently, infusing it with some winter magic and it became a perfect snowball.

Jack threw it with perfect aim and hit Jamie right in the back of the head.

"Hey!" Jamie yelled, but then the blue sparkles of Jack's special winter magic took over and Jamie began to laugh.

"Who threw that?" he asked with a grin.

He wound up throwing another snowball and soon there was an all out free-for-fall, with Jack and Lillian contributing by throwing some random snowballs here and there.

The kids were busy having so much fun that they didn't realize that there were extra snowballs flying around.

All of a sudden, a snowball hit a little girl wearing pink. She was big for her age and looked very unfriendly.

"Crud, I hit Cupcake!" Pippa, one of Jamie's female friends said while looking scared.

Lillian giggled when she saw that it was actually Jack, who was showing off by crouching on his staff. She never knew how he did it, but Jack seemed to defy gravity sometimes.

It used to drive Pitch crazy, since Pitch would offer Jack a seat, and Jack would just crouch on his staff, giving an annoyed Pitch a smug look.

But that had been a long time ago, Lillian realized. Pitch hadn't offered Jack tea or invited him to stay for dinner in a long, long time.

The smile slipped off Lillian's face while the kids ran around running and screaming, having a lot of fun. Apparently Jack had used his special winter powers to make Cupcake want to have more fun, as she was now playing with all the kids.

"Oh, little slippery!" Jack said, playing with the kids.

He made ice appear under their feet and they all fell down, except for Jamie, who fell on his sled and took off like a shot.

"H-hey!" Lillian pouted, as she realized that not only was she missing out on the fun, but Jack had just left her behind! No fair!

Lillian started running after them, but slipped on the ice herself and started screaming when she took off like a shot in the ice path, on her stomach.

She covered her eyes when she slid into the street, completely out of control.

"JACK!" Lillian screamed as loudly as she could.

Jack was flying ahead of Jamie, carefully directing Jamie around traffic. At Lillian's scream, he looked back and nearly face palmed.

There was Lillian, sliding along on her stomach and barely avoiding traffic herself. In fact, there was a moving van..!

Jack helped Jamie narrowly avoid the moving van and quickly flew back by Lillian, picking her up by the scruff of her hood and lifting her over the van.

Lillian still had her eyes covered and was whimpering in fright. Jack noticed that Jamie was headed for trouble again, so he dropped Lillian off in the snow and quickly made a ramp for Jamie, so he would fly over the obstacles.

Jamie looked terrified, but soon a grin lit up his face as he went flying through the air. Jack grinned as he saw how much fun Jamie was having.

Jamie landed in a big pile of snow near a statue of the town's founder while Jamie's friends started running towards him in the background, all asking Jamie if he was alright.

Jamie happily started explaining about his awesome sled ride when a couch that had fallen out of the moving van suddenly bowled him over.

"Oof!" Jamie exclaimed as he was knocked off his feet.

"Omigosh! Jamie, are you alright?!" his friends exclaimed.

Jamie held up a hand triumphantly and stood with a grin to reveal a new gap in his smile. Jamie was holding a missing tooth.

"Alright! Tooth fairy cash!" one of Jamie's friends exclaimed.

Jack, who had landed by Lillian to see if she was alright, looked hurt that they'd forgotten all about Jamie's awesome sled ride.

Lillian who had finally uncovered her eyes, was trying to recover from almost dying a bunch of times while she slid on her stomach. She brushed the snow off the front of her cloak, but it was still wet from the ice and snow. She shivered a little as it started to snow.

She gave Jack a hug, knowing that it was only snowing because her friend was upset.

"It's okay, Jack," she said softly to him. "He's just a kid. They get excited about things like that."

Jack looked down at his friend, finding it ironic that what appeared to be a six year old was telling him that Jamie was just a kid.

"I just wish.. I wish they'd _believe,_ " Jack said wistfully.

Lillian pulled away from Jack with a nod. She didn't really care if kids believed in her or not as she preferred to be with Jack over anybody else, but she knew that it hurt Jack that nobody could see or hear him except for other spirits.

"Hey," Lillian said with a smile. "Want to go read Jamie's book?"

Jack shook his head a smile, but followed after Lillian as she ran off for Jamie's house.

Lillian and Jack wound up spending the rest of the afternoon at Jamie's. Jamie did wind up putting his book down in his room and then spent over half an hour trying to find it. He didn't realize that a spring spirit had 'borrowed' it.

Jack laughed at Jamie's futile attempts and before long, Jamie was being tucked in by his mom. Jack could see that Lillian was watching them sadly, with a look of longing on her face.

"Hey," Jack said, wrapping an arm around Lillian in a side hug. "It's time for you to go home, isn't it?"

Lillian shrugged half-heartedly and Jack sighed at the solemn expression on his friend's face. It was an expression he had gotten to know well over the years.

Lillian pulled away from Jack and gently set Jamie's book down on his nightstand. Despite Jamie's claims of staying up all night, he had fallen asleep very quickly. As she looked at Jamie, one last hope ocurred to her. Before she returned to Jack's side, she leaned in close to Jamie and whispered softly in his ear.

"Jack Frost is real."

Jamie stirred a little in his sleep as Lillian walked over by Jack.

"What did you do?" Jack asked a little suspiciously.

Lillian gave Jack a small smile.

"Subliminal messaging?" she said innocently.

Jack wasn't sure what that was and soon he had called for the wind to fly them from Jamie's. He and Lillian were headed toward Pitch's, when they saw the golden streams of dreamsand.

"Look, it's the Sandman!" Jack pointed to the streams down below them. "Want to go say hi?"

Lillian smiled at the golden ribbons. She never told Jack, but one of her favorite things to do was to play with the Sandman's dreamsand. The images it made were amazing, and usually the Sandman would visit with them. Sure, it was only for a few moments and he usually wound up knocking them out and leaving them at Jack's lake, but those were the only times that Lillian could have the sweet dreams that came from the dreamsand.

They were bittersweet moments for Lillian, since reality would come crashing down when she woke up and she would have to return to Pitch's. If he was in a parental mood, he would scold her for being out all night. She never told Pitch, but she relished those moments since it meant he still cared.

If Pitch was in his _other_ mood, the dark one he was in so much lately, he wouldn't notice that she'd been gone and she would have to get her own breakfast.

But Lillian left those thoughts at the back of her mind as she enthusiastically nodded.

So the two of them flew lower. Lillian reached out and touched a tendril of golden sand. The familiar form of Pitch started to form from it when something darted out from nearby and dashed past them.

Lillian exchanged a look with Jack. Whatever it was, was _fast._

Jack had them land in the mouth of an alleyway, when a voice called out to them.

"Jack Frost," someone with a very familiar Austrailian accent said. "Been a long time. Haven't seen ya since '68, I believe."

Jack flinched at the reminder of that awful day as he and Lillian saw Bunny leaning casually against a building by the alley. Bunny was inspecting one of his boomerangs.

Infuriated that the Easter Bunny was picking on Jack, Lillian stepped forward to say something, but Sandy beat her to it.

Attracted to the feeling of someone messing with his dreamsand, he had flown down on his cloud in hopes of finding his two favorite spirits.

Instead he found an upset Jack and Lillian being confronted by Bunny. Sandy immediately flew in front of Bunny and shook his finger at him. Didn't they already discuss this? Tooth had put her foot down at the 'shove him in a sack' idea. They'd agreed that Sandy could pick Jack up while doing his rounds.

Bunny shrugged.

"North said this way was faster, mate. Now if you'll excuse me.."

Bunny gestured at the alley and suddenly a yeti appeared from the gloom. It grabbed Jack by his hoodie and shoved him roughly in a sack.

"HEY!" Jack and Lillian yelled at the same time.

"See ya at the Pole," Bunny said to Sandy as Jack was tossed into a portal.

He failed to notice (or ignored) the enraged spirit of spring as he vanished down his rabbit hole. The portal closed after the yeti stepped through it.

"Jack," Lillian said in despair, as her eyes filled with tears.

What had the Easter Bunny done with him?

Just as Lillian was turning to leave, a golden hand reached out and touched Lillian's shoulder. As Lillian faced the Sandman, he gave her a warm smile and a thumbs up.

Lillian sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"Y-you know where Jack is?" she asked Sandy in a small voice.

Sandy's smile slipped a little as he heard Lillian speak. She sounded so small and vulnerable. He knew this sack idea was a terrible one! But he just nodded at Lillian as he transformed his cloud into a two-seater plane for them.

Before he could even think of asking if she wanted to go, she had jumped into the second seat of the plane. Sandy smiled at her eagerness as he settled himself down in the front seat.

Contact!

Author's Note: I couldn't resist Bunny being a little mean there. He'll get better, I promise! How'd you like the end? Sandy to the rescue. Things will deviate more in the next chapter. I can only imagine that the whole Tooth Palace + Jack + Pitch will = super awkward for Jack. I've been thinking about it, and instead of drabbles right after the movie, the fic will continue on. There will be more Pitch drama, I just know it! So the fic will taper off into drabbles eventually, just not for awhile. As always, if you have any ideas, let me know! Next chapter should be up later in the week.


	16. Chapter 16: Attack on Tooth Palace

Author's Note: I know, I know! I'm SO late. And I'm very sorry about that. The last few weeks have been hectic. I'll save you my excuses. I just want you guys to know that no matter how long it takes me to actually post a chapter, I WILL finish this fic and it will NOT be abandoned. I promise. That said, onto the reviews!

As for the Guardians reminding me of The Avengers, I am sad to say that my Avenger knowledge is extremely limited. I saw the first Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk.. uh.. and that's about it. Mostly I like reading Guardian/Avenger crossovers where Jack is involved getting in their way somehow, and then they either join forces to battle Pitch or some such thing. But I guess I can see the Guardians as super heros. :)

To the reviewer that suggested that Jack and Lillian have a little angst and grow apart, that is actually a good idea. I'm not sure where that will pop up, but I think I will fit that in somewhere.

Anywho, this chapter is sadly somewhat short, but I felt so guilty I just had to get SOMETHING out for you guys. I kinda left it on a cliffhanger to be evil, I admit. I'm going to be really busy this weekend, but I'll try and fit in an update soon. My long absence of posting let me think a bit about where the fic is going though, so I have an idea or two to post. Anyway, thanks for all your reviews, faves, etc and enjoy! Oh! Also, time backs up a little bit as usual when Pitch is involved. Hopefully it isn't too confusing!

Chapter Sixteen: Attack on Tooth Palace

Pitch grinned to himself as he gazed at his own personal globe. Soon all those bright little lights would shine only for him. His plan was perfect!

He heard a whinny in the background from one of his Nightmares and was thankful that Lillian seemed to be out, so she wouldn't hear.

His grin faded as he thought about it. Wasn't it time for Lillian to be home? It wasn't spring, so she didn't have special permission to be out so late. With a frown, he wandered off to Lillian's room.

Her things were strewn all over and it was difficult to tell from the state of her room if she had been there recently or not. He remembered she always kept her room so neat. When had her room gotten so messy?

His frown deepened as he searched all over his lair for her, turning up nothing. Soon however, his concern turned to anger. How _dare_ she defy him like this?! She knew the rules!

Angrily, he stormed over to the room that the Nightmares were kept and summoned one out of the room.

" _Find Lillian_ ," Pitch hissed angrily at the nightmare.

He hadn't realized, but his temper was always close to the surface now. He also didn't realize that it seemed to be driving away the very person he had wanted to keep close.

He stormed back to his globe room to wait, ignoring the Christmas tree in the corner. He had almost not gotten one this year, as he was so busy with his planning, but after snapping at Lillian and seeing the hurt expression on her face, he had instantly caved.

He tapped his fingers on a surface as he impatiently waited.

* * *

The Nightmare in question had gone to the surface and soon picked up the trail of Winter and Spring, who so often went hand in hand. It stuck to the shadows, moving around very steathily.

Soon it spotted the signs that the Sandman was near, as it spotted the golden sand. It also spotted one Winter and Spring spirit, playing around with the golden strands. As something caught the Winter Spirit's attention, the Nightmare followed after.

Before long, the Winter Spirit was unceremoniously grabbed and shoved into a sack, then tossed into a magic portal.

The Spring Spirit was left behind, looking very forlorn. The Nightmare waited to see if anything else would happen before it reported back to its master.

Sure enough, the Sandman showed up and after a very silent conversation, the Sandman and the Spring Spirit took off in the air.

The Nightmare pawed the ground nervously as it watched. Its master wasn't going to like this.

Not at all.

* * *

Pitch started pacing around the globe room as he waited impatiently. He was on his fourth pass when _finally_ the Nightmare returned. He twirled his fingers in the Nightmare's mane, as the images of what it saw flashed before him.

He clenched his fist around the black sand, causing the Nightmare to whinny in discomfort, but he didn't notice.

She was with _them._

So was _Frost_ , that traitor!

He glared venemously at his globe of belief.

He hadn't wanted to start his plan so early, but apparently now was the time.

The Guardians would _**pay**_ for taking his Lillian away.

He would get her back.

Then he would destroy them all.

* * *

Jack was staring around North's workshop in utter confusion. Not only had he just climbed out of the sack he had been tossed through a portal in, but now North and Tooth were grinning at him, while Bunny looked impassive.

"Uh.." Jack said a little nervously, while he held his staff.

Thankfully that seemed to have gone with him when he was tossed in the sack.

"Sandy will be here soon," North boomed out with a grin. "Then we start!"

"Start what?" Jack asked, but shortly after that, Sandy arrived.

Sandy's plane touched down in the workshop and two figures climbed out from the plane. One was Sandy, and the other was a very windswept..

"Lil - " Jack started, but North interrupted, not noticing that there was another guest.

"Now, we start!" North waved grandly at the elves and suddenly music burst forth as it started to look like a three-ring circus in the workshop.

There were even elves juggling flaming torches!

Jack's eyes widened at this and he backed away from the fire.

Who thought that was a good idea?!

Lillian noticed Jack's discomfort and decided to help him out. She tried to walk over to him, but all the various elves were in the way.

She tried to wrestle her way through the crowd, but soon Jack's discomfort turned to anger.

Who were the Guardians to just shove him in a sack and torment him with flaming torches?!

"Enough!" Jack slammed his staff down on the ground, causing a cold wave of frost to cover all the elves.

The torches were blown out and everyone fell silent.

"What is all this?!" Jack demanded, glaring at North.

"This?" North grinned at Jack. "This is ceremony! You are now one of us. You are a Guardian!"

North gestured at the elves around them.

"Music!" he called.

The elf band started up again, but Jack put his foot down.

"No music!" he glared at the elves, who stopped. One was so upset that it threw its horn down on the ground and walked away sulkily.

"Of course music!" North said, still oblivious to Jack's anger.

"Who says I want to join you guys anyway?" Jack huffed as Lillian drew nearer.

Lillian wasn't too happy about wading through the crowd of elves and was wishing that she were just a little taller. She was taller than the elves, but their stupid pointy hats were around the same size as she was, and it was hard to see where Jack was.

"You know what?" Bunny looked around at the other Guardians. "I think we dodged a bullet. What does he know about making kids happy?"

Jack clutched his staff a little closer as hurt entered his eyes.

Fed up with elf-wading, Lillian shoved and kicked her way to the front.

"Stop picking on Jack!" Lillian stormed over to the Easter Bunny and kicked him right in the shin. "He knows a _lot_ about making kids happy! More than YOU."

Bunny looked stunned that the child spirit was there, and she kicked him!

"Hey, sheila - " Bunny started.

"The name's LILLIAN," Lillian glared at him. "And I thought you were nice 'cuz you and the other Guardians got us gifts for Christmas!"

"I - " Bunny started again, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. How was it that this.. this.. _kid_ was telling him off?

"Well.. Well.. This is what I think of _you_ ," she said and then stuck her tongue out at Bunny.

She stomped over to Jack and slipped her hand into his, giving it a comforting squeeze.

Jack looked torn between being hurt over Bunny's remarks, amused at Lillian telling Bunny off and grateful that she stuck up for him.

He settled on quietly telling her thanks, while the other Guardians stared at the pair of spirits with their mouths open.

All except for Sandy that is. Sandy gave Lillian a thumbs up before he nudged North and raised an eyebrow at him.

North got the hint to take Jack aside.

"Jack, why don't you walk with me?" North asked.

Lillian narrowed her eyes distrustfully at North. Apparently their kidnapping of Jack and how Bunny was lowered her opinion of most of the Guardians.

Sandy walked over by Jack and Lillian. A picture of a happy face appeared over his head and he gave the pair a thumbs up to indicate that everything would be alright.

He gently grabbed Lillian's other hand and pulled her away from Jack, so that Jack could walk over by North. Sandy made a shooing motion at Jack and then gave him a gentle smile.

Jack nodded at Sandy and hooked his trademark smirk on his face for Lillian.

"Be right back," he told her.

"If you're longer than ten minutes, I'm sending a search party," she told him seriously.

Jack chuckled at that and followed after North.

After the two had gone Tooth flew over by Lillian.

"Oh my gosh, you are SO adorable!" she gushed at Lillian, who was looking uncomfortable at all the attention.

Tooth flew into Lillian's personal space to examine her teeth.

"Your teeth are _perfect_ ," she exclaimed.

Lillian tried to reply, but for reasons unknown to her, the Tooth Fairy had stuck her fingers in her mouth.

Seeing that Bunny wasn't jumping to the rescue (he was probably still upset about the whole kicking thing), Sandy pulled Tooth away from Lillian while giving Tooth a look.

Tooth grinned sheepishly at Sandy before looking back at Lillian.

"Sorry about that, I tend to get a little carried away." she said.

"Hmph," Lillian replied. "Why did you kidnap Jack?!" she demanded while glaring mostly at Bunny.

"Hey, the Man in the Moon picked Jack to be a Guardian, alrigh'?" Bunny said, sounding defensive. "And the sack idea was North's! I was just goin' along with the plan. It was the fastest way of gettin' him to the Pole."

Lillian rolled her eyes at this.

"HELLO, you could've ASKED him to go with you! Why'd you have to be all mean!" she exclaimed while glaring at Bunny some more.

Bunny's ears drooped a little as he realized that she _did_ have a point.

"Jack thought you guys were getting along better and you forgave him for '68! Then you go and KIDNAP him and be all mean! Meanie head!" she said, while reverting back to her six year old vocabulary.

It was strange, but even though she'd been alive for over thirty years, sometimes she seemed to act more childish. Perhaps it was because she was forever trapped in a child's body, but something about her refused to completely mature.

Bunny opened his mouth to say something, but one of Tooth's fairies flew into the workshop before making a beeline for Tooth. The fairy frantically began tweeting at Tooth and she gasped.

"Oh no! There's trouble at the Palace!" she exclaimed.

"What is it, Sheila?" Bunny asked, looking concerned.

"Pitch is attacking my fairies!" she said, hovering in the air looking very distressed. "I have to go!"

Lillian gave a huge gasp as Tooth flew off with her fairies.

 _Pitch_ was attacking the Tooth Fairy's palace?

Lillian stared at the place where Tooth left with wide eyes. What was going on?

She flinched when a furry paw landed on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll get 'em," Bunny said in what was supposed to be a reassuring tone.

Lillian bit her lip at that.

The Guardians were going to _get_ Pitch?

* * *

Jack was holding a Russian nesting doll that was in the shape of North. North had just finished explaining what his center was.

Jack was a little confused why the tiny wooden baby had to have the eyes filled with wonder, but he supposed this was some sort of representation of North's inner child.

Or something.

"You, Jack Frost!" North said, getting in Jack's space again. "What is your center!"

Jack looked down at the wooden baby, letting his white bangs cover his eyes a bit. He bit his lip as he thought for a moment.

"I.. I don't know," he stammered.

North looked to be on the verge of saying something to Jack about this, but Bunny suddenly burst into the door.

"What did I say about - " North started to complain, when Bunny interrupted him.

"Trouble at Tooth Palace," Bunny told North hurriedly, as Tooth flew past the window.

North ushered Jack out of his office as they all made their way back to where Sandy and Lillian had been left.

"We take sleigh!" North said authoritatively.

"My tunnels are safer!" Bunny tried to tell him as they all started walking to where North kept the sleigh.

Lillian grabbed Jack's hand while they walked and looked up at him with a scared expression.

"It's Pitch," she whispered to Jack. "He's attacking the Tooth Fairy's palace."

Bunny was too busy arguing with North to notice the whispered conversation, but Sandy was walking behind North and Bunny, while Jack and Lillian lagged behind.

Sandy glanced back apprehensively at his favorite spirits as he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Oh man," Jack whispered back. "What are we going to do?"

Lillian shrugged helplessly.

"They said they were going to _get_ him," she said, her voice trembling a little.

Sandy's eyes widened at that. Did Lillian actually sound _concerned_ for Pitch?!

Before Sandy could even think of doing anything, they were soon all outside.

North asked a yeti if the sleigh was ready and the yeti shook its head frantically indicating the that the sleigh was definitely _not_ ready.

"Good! We leave now!" North said happily as he clapped his hands together.

North's voice brought Jack and Lillian's conversation to a close as the finally started paying attention to what was going on.

Their jaws both dropped when the sleigh came into view.

"Wow," Lillian breathed.

North took in the awed expressions of both Jack and Lillian and smirked smugly at Bunny.

"Everyone loves the sleigh," he boasted.

North ushered everyone aboard before he too climbed on and grabbed the reins.

"Everyone hold on!" North shouted as the sleigh took off at roller coaster speeds.

In fact, the tunnel that lead from North's workshop was similar to a roller coaster as it looped and swerved around.

"I hope you like loop-de-loops!" North said with a grin back at his passengers.

Bunny was definitely looking more green than grey at the moment as they finally came out of the tunnel and flew in the air.

"I hope ya like carrots," he said as he tried very hard to keep all his carrots inside himself.

Once the sleigh was far enough away from the Workshop, North pulled a snow globe out of his pocket.

"I say, Tooth Palace," he whispered to it as he tossed it in front of the sleigh.

The sleigh flew into the portal and soon appeared in the air near Tooth's Palace.

Jack and Lillian exchanged looks as chaos reined. Black horses were flying around everywhere, and seemed to be chasing after the fairies.

"They're taking the fairies!" Jack exclaimed as he suddenly jumped up and snatched a poor fairy out of the air. It had almost been caught by one of the black horses.

Bunny threw a boomerang at a few of the horses, and one broke apart right over the sleigh, depositing a few long golden cases.

"They're stealin' the teeth too!" Bunny said as Sandy held some of the strange black sand in his palm. He clenched his fist over it as he looked upset.

"Jack! Take reins!" North said as he shoved the reins into Jack's hands.

Jack suddenly found himself steering while North withdrew his swords and slashed at some of the horses.

"Oy! Look out!" Bunny exclaimed as they seemed to be heading straight for a pillar.

The sleigh came to a rough landing on a platform near where Tooth was, flitting around.

"My fairies! The teeth!" she said, looking very distressed. "They.. they took everything!"

The other spirits climbed out of the sleigh. As Jack wandered over by Tooth, the fairy that he had rescued flew over by Tooth.

"Oh, thank goodness! At least one of you is safe!" she exclaimed.

As she fawned over her fairy, she heard a big gasp of surprise. Looking up, she saw the figure of Pitch Black smirking at them.

* * *

This was too easy. Pitch's plan was going _perfectly._ He grinned as he watched his Nightmares stealing the little fairies by swallowing them whole. Even when Tooth flew in, there wasn't much she could do to stop him. Ha!

Not long after that, the rest of the pathetic Guardians showed up, but they were far too late. He already had everything he needed.

He smirked at them, very smug, until his golden eyes fell on a pair of spirits.

Jack and Lillian.

What were they doing here?!

* * *

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. I realized that I skipped over a few things when I was posting this, such as the naming of Baby Tooth. (D'oh!) But don't worry, I'll slip it in. I was also trying to make the movie more interesting, by showing different things that were probably going on at the same time as when you saw movie events. Such as Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny all talking while Jack and North were having their chat. I'm also going on the assumption that everyone has actually SEEN the movie, so I don't feel required to post every single detail. Plus remember, I'm going based off of memory. Anyway, the next chapter will feature the rest of the confrontation at Tooth's and then all the fun-ness of collecting teeth! As always, if you guys have any suggestions for plot, etc, just let me know. Also, if you have any drabble ideas for later on, I'd appreciate that too. And don't worry, Lillian will eventually get a nice long look around the Workshop.


	17. Chapter 17: Confrontation at the Palace

Author's Note: Soo..I have no idea what happened, but apparently fanfiction spazzed out and replaced this chapter with Interlude 17. No idea why, since all my recent edits were to Ch. 67 after I posted it. I did browse back to earlier chapters as I was writing 67, buuut.. I dunno. Thankfully I do have most of the earlier chapters saved or else this could have been potentially gone forever. Hopefully this will be the last of reposting chapters. Unfortunately, all the original author's notes are gone. :(

Chapter Seventeen: Confrontation at the Palace

Lillian shifted uncomfortably as Pitch stared at her and Jack in what at first appeared to be disbelief. Then Pitch's eyes narrowed dangerously and she knew that Pitch was fairly annoyed.

"Well, well.. _Jack Frost._ " Pitch sneered. "Fancy seeing _you_ here."

Lillian glanced at Jack, who looked nervous. She knew that Pitch really meant to ask what Jack was doing there with the Guardians. She and Jack both knew that Pitch really hated the Guardians. She wasn't quite sure why since he never told her, but she could tell from certain comments over the years that Pitch did not like them.

"And who is this? A pint-sized Guardian in training, hmm?" Pitch said, looking at Lillian in what appeared to be mild curiosity, but she could see the anger flashing in his eyes.

She involuntarily stepped closer to Jack at that. She had never seen Pitch look so _dangerous_ before.

Pitch turned his attention to the rest of the Guardians, who were all glaring at him menacingly. He smirked at them.

"And the Big Four! My, what an _honor_ to have you all here. I'm all of a flutter! Did you enjoy my little display on the globe?" he smirked at Sandy in particular at that and was pleased to see that Sandy looked very upset.

"Pitch!" Tooth cried out as she darted towards him suddenly, brushing past Jack and Lillian.

Pitch darted into a shadow and his laugh echoed all around the palace ominously.

Lillian's eyes widened a little at how _scary_ Pitch was being and she shivered at his creepy laughter, hugging Jack's arm close to her.

Jack glanced down at Lillian briefly in concern as he felt her hugging onto his arm. If Pitch ever got back to normal, the poor kid was going to be traumatized.

"You have got thirty seconds to return my fairies!" Tooth cried out as she reached the spot where Pitch had been.

"Or what? You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" he said with a touch of amusement that soon faded when he glanced at Jack and Lillian.

Tooth looked all around before spotting him near a column. She let out a cry and darted after him, but a few remaining Nightmares blocked her. She looked angry enough to tear them apart herself, but a boomerang zipped through the air and took the pair out in one swoop.

They burst apart into black sand that the breeze soon whipped away.

"Why are you doing this?" North's voice rang out. He sounded angry, but he was also genuinely curious as to _why_ Pitch was acting like this.

"Maybe I want what you want," Pitch said as he stalked closer to them, "to be believed in."

Jack exchanged a look with Lillian. He certainly knew how that felt. But he thought for sure that Pitch had a few believers.

..Didn't he?

"Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds." Pitch continued.

While Pitch was putting on a good show of being smug, Jack could tell that Pitch meant what he was saying. He really did want kids to believe in him.

Lillian watched the scene unfold in confusion. Pitch was being so mean and scary, because he wanted believers? She was trying to make sense of this, but it was just making her head hurt.

Surely there were other ways of getting kids to believe in him.

Right?

"Maybe that's where you belong," Bunny said as he readied his boomerangs.

Lillian sucked in a breath at this. Bunny insulted Pitch! _Her_ Pitch!

But was he really hers anymore? She'd been living with Pitch for years, but now she felt like she hardly knew him anymore. He didn't seem worried that she'd disappeared. No, he was upset that she and Jack were with the Guardians. She almost felt like a favorite toy in a tug-of-war. Pitch didn't want her unless someone else had her.

She bit her lip as Pitch rolled his eyes at this.

"Oh, go suck an egg, rabbit!"

The Guardians were all keeping an eye on Pitch as he walked, but only Sandy seemed to realize something.

His eyes widened as he realized that Pitch's ambling walk had taken him closer and closer to Lillian and Jack.

He reached out to tug on North's sleeve, but North was too preoccupied to notice.

Sandy made a golden exclamation point over his head as he noticed that Pitch had looked right at him, with an evil little smirk on his face.

Pitch _knew_ he knew what Pitch was up to!

Frantically Sandy readied a ball of dreamsand, but he was too late.

"Pitch!" Bunny called out angrily in warning, but Pitch was now standing right before the Winter and Spring spirit.

The Guardians had been so focused on watching to see if he would attack and paying attention to what he was saying, they hadn't exactly noticed where he was walking TO.

Pitch glared at Jack with so much hatred that Jack flinched away from Pitch and looked away from his gaze.

"Such a disappointment," Pitch said quietly to Jack. "I expected better of you."

Jack hugged his staff close to his chest and closed his eyes as if Pitch had physically struck him.

Lillian looked torn for a moment and then marched right up to Pitch.

"Stop - " she started, but never got to finish as Pitch's hand flashed out and grabbed her arm.

"As for _you,_ " Pitch said in his 'you are in SO much trouble' voice. "I'll deal with you later."

"You shadow sneaking ratbag, get your hands off her!" Bunny roared as he flung his boomerangs at Pitch.

Pitch threw Lillian aside, who was unceremoniously caught by the hood of her cloak by a Nightmare.

Lillian flailed her arms around as she was held up by the hood of her cloak, which was in the Nightmare's mouth.

"J-Jack..!" Lillian cried out desperately to him.

She didn't want to go with Pitch. Not when he was acting so strangely and not when he was being so rough with her.

Pitch easily evaded the boomerangs as he smirked at the Guardians again.

"Like it? It took me quite awhile to figure out how to turn dreams into Nightmares. They.. smell fear.." Pitch trailed off as he got a strange expression on his face.

He glanced back at Lillian.

 _I don't want to go! Is Pitch going to hurt me?!_

The frantic fear of the Child of Spring called out to him. It made him pause for a moment and he wondered just what the hell he was doing.

 _His_ Lillian was being held in the mouth of a Nightmare and he just threatened her and Jack Frost.

Sure, he wanted more believers.. but at what cost?

He started to look a little uncertain, but another Nightmare cantered over to him and neighed, looking at him in the eye for more instructions.

Pitch shook his head slightly as he stroked the Nightmare's mane. He turned away from Lillian, back to the Guardians.

She didn't matter for now. The child was disobedient and deserved to be a little frightened. Maybe this would teach her not to run off, the little brat.

Bunny readied more boomerangs and the Guardians were about to rush to Lillian's aid, but Pitch gestured at the Nightmare holding her and it took off suddenly into a shadow.

Lillian's cry of "JACK!" echoed as she disappeared with the Nightmare.

"NO!" the Guardians all cried out, except for Sandy, who made a golden flower and an exclamation point over his head.

Pitch looked very smug at this.

"Down one believer already?" he said. "Don't worry, there's more where that came from."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked as he clenched his fists that were still holding his staff close to himself.

Pitch paced as he began to explain, as he so often did, to Jack. If Pitch's words weren't so sinister, Jack could almost believe that they were back in the cave, discussing things as they so often did over tea.

"Imagine, children all over the world have put their teeth under their pillows, eager awaiting the arrival of the Tooth Fairy. All that little hope and joy at the thought of the _Tooth Fairy_ choosing to visit them and leave them gifts!"

Jack glanced at Tooth, who suddenly gasped as she stared at her large mural on the wall, which was starting to disintegrate.

"But without her precious little fairies to do all the work for her.." Pitch trailed off as his golden eyes glowed with sinister glee, "children all over the world are waking up to realize that the Tooth Fairy never came. They're realizing.."

Tooth gasped as some of her feathers fell out and disappeared. She fell out of the air in shock and landed on her knees on the ground.

"..They.. they don't believe in me anymore.." she said in a tortured voice.

"No!" North cried out.

This couldn't be happening. It couldn't!

"They didn't tell you, did they? It's so much _fun_ being a Guardian. Believers, amazing powers and making sure children are happy. But if those children should happen to stop believing in you.. Little by little, you disappear. Children all over the world are realizing that there is no Tooth Fairy," he said as he looked amused. "And when I have my way, soon there won't be any wonder, hope or little fairies coming in the night."

He leveled his gaze at all the Guardians.

"It's your turn not to be believed in!"

North puffed himself up in rage as he held his swords out threateningly.

"No! We are Guardians and we WILL beat fear! Jack is now one of us and we won't be defeated by likes of you!"

Pitch's sharp gaze suddenly flew to Jack.

 _Jack is now one of us._

"One of them?" Pitch said softly as he glared at Jack.

Jack gulped as he looked from Pitch back to the Guardians, then back to Pitch.

He didn't really want to join them, but he didn't want them to think he was condemning them to disappearing forever. Plus if he said anything against them, they might think he's on Pitch's side.

He wasn't, right?

Pitch was all evil now and acting strangely. Plus he kidnapped Lillian!

But a small part of him couldn't forget the Pitch that had sat with him all those times, drinking tea. The Pitch that encouraged him to spread Winter and play with Lillian. The Pitch that made them both costumes to play in.

He remembered all the holidays spent together, all the decorations they put up in Pitch's lair.

Jack didn't say anything as he gazed at Pitch, eyes full of conflict.

He didn't know what to do.

 _I just want Lillian back,_ he realized. With that realization, he hesitantly took a step forward towards Pitch.

"Give her back," he said his voice wavering a little. "You can't keep her locked away."

Pitch stepped back towards a shadow and as he disappeared, Jack's shoulders slumped at the answer he heard.

"Watch me."


	18. Chapter 18: Narrow Escape

Author's Note: I admit, this chapter wasn't going to exist. I was going to go straight from the attack on the palace to teeth collecting and then tons of drama! But this inbetween chapter had to come out first. I hope you guys find it exciting as I had a lot of fun writing it. I admit that I put off the teeth collecting since we all know what sad parts follow _that._ I felt sad chapter that's coming needed the fun of teeth collecting first, so thus you have this chapter for now. As for the fallout with the Guardians confronting Jack about Pitch.. well.. I won't tell you when that's coming. I have to ask you though.. Who do you think will confront either Jack or Lillian about it first?

As for reviews.. CrossoverJunkie, the backstory info is great, but your posts are so long now that they're getting cut off. I think I'll have to visit Wikipedia or something if I want to find out more. :) But thank you anyway!

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter Eighteen: Narrow Escape

The Nightmare holding Lillian entered Pitch's globe room via the darkest shadows in the corner. Its eyes glowed with malicious glee as it tossed its head, shaking poor Lillian around by the hood of her cloak.

Lillian gave a strangled shriek as she was being strangled by her cloak. She frantically scrabbled at her cloak where it was tied around her shoulders and then remembered that it was actually tied and therefore very easy to take off.

Grabbing one end of the bow that tied her cloak on, she gave a tug and suddenly tumbled to the ground as she was freed from her cloak. She coughed and gasped for air as she massaged her throat, where the ribbon had been digging in since the Nightmare had been holding her.

She stood after a moment and staggered slightly. She looked around in confusion as she noticed there were now several large birdcages hanging from the ceiling and there were now hundreds of tweeting little fairies in the cages.

As she was staring curiously at the cages, she suddenly heard a very loud snort from the Nightmare which seemed much closer to her than before. Her eyes widened as the Nightmare seemed to glare at her. Its mouth was now free of her cloak, it having tossed the useless cloth aside once it realized that it couldn't use the cloth to frighten and strangle the child it had been holding.

Lillian started to back away as she stared in fright at the Nightmare when it suddenly lashed out at her. Lillian cried out as the Nightmare actually _bit_ her on her arm. She wrenched her arm away from the surprisingly sharp teeth to see that she now had a small but terrible looking gash on her arm.

Tears filled her eyes as she covered the wound with her hand. She had to get out of here! She turned around to run away, but soon found herself grabbed by the back of her dress.

Before she could even think of trying to get away she found herself tossed into the last empty cage. She whimpered as she hit the metal floor of the cage roughly. She lay in a heap at the bottom of the cage as she heard the door slam close.

She sniffled as she sat up a bit and looked at her wound again. It had brushed up against the rough black sand of the horse when she wrenched her arm away from it. She didn't see any of the sand in her wound now though.

She brushed her tears away and carefully tore a long strip of cloth from the bottom of her dress and wrapped up her wound, tying it off rather awkwardly. She looked around to find that several of the fairies were either shaking their tiny fists at the Nightmare that was still lingering in the room (since Lillian was so afraid), or looking at her with worry and sympathy on their faces.

"I-I'm ok," she told them quietly.

She couldn't help but wonder as she looked down at Nightmare though.. Was locking her up the horse's idea or Pitch's?

* * *

Bunny's eyes narrowed as he watched Jack and Pitch. They were far enough away and were talking quietly enough that North, Tooth and Sandy couldn't quite hear what they were talking about. But Bunny's long ears weren't just for decoration and thanks to that, he had _excellent_ hearing.

And he hadn't liked what he heard. Not at all.

Jack stared at Pitch, his mind frozen. That wasn't what he expected Pitch to say at all.

Pitch gave Jack a look, it was almost as if Pitch was going into adult mode again and giving Jack that Look that said "Do Not Follow Me!" Pitch gave a parting smirk at the Guardians as he disappeared into the shadows.

Jack took a deep breath to calm himself and walked back over by the Guardians. He could see Tooth had picked herself back up from the floor but was looking so very un-Toothlike and still.

"..I.. I'm sorry about the fairies," Jack offered quietly.

"You should've seen them, they put up such a fight," Tooth said with a ghost of a smile.

The little fairy that had been rescued by Jack and fawned over by Tooth earlier flew over by Jack and settled down onto his shoulder.

Jack gave the fairy a small smile.

"Hey little Baby Tooth," he said, trying to sound cheerful, but unable to. Not with Lillian gone and things so wrong now.

Baby Tooth chirped happily in Jack's ear at that. She had a name! A cute one too!

She flew up and zipped around Jack's head in a circle happily before settling back down in the hood of Jack's hoodie.

Tooth looked around at her very empty palace in dismay.

Jack noticed and tried to offer a few words of comfort.

"I'm sorry about your teeth too," he said sincerely to her.

Tooth shook her head sadly.

"It wasn't just the teeth, it was the memories that they contained."

Jack looked puzzled by this.

"Memories?"

Tooth nodded.

"The Memories of Childhood. Each baby tooth holds a memory from that child's childhood. When the child needs to remember it, the fairies and I help them out." she explained. "We have everyone's memories. Yours and Lillian's too."

"O-our memories?" Jack stuttered.

"Of course!" Tooth said, perking up a little. "From before you were chosen to be Jack Frost and Lillian, the spirit of Spring."

Jack looked at her in stunned disbelief.

"B-but I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost," Jack said his eyes widening. "And Lillian never said anything about having a life before she met - " Jack hastily paused and changed what he was going to say as he realized he was going to say something about Pitch, "Before she became a spring spirit."

"Of course you two were someone before you became spirits!" Tooth said in surprise. "We all were someone before we were chosen."

"Is true!" North boomed out as he joined the conversation. "Why I remember Bunny - "

Bunny glared at North.

"You said you weren't goin' to say anythin' about that!"

Tooth cried out as a few more feathers disappeared from her.

"What is it?!" Jack said as he looked concerned.

"The children," Tooth cried out in dismay. "They don't believe!"

"You're going to disappear?" Jack asked her, horrified.

"NO!" North cried out. "No! Wait.. think.. think.. think... YES!" he said as he did a jig, swinging his swords around and nearly beheading poor Bunny. "IDEA! We collect teeth!"

"Oy!" Bunny said, "Watch it!"

"..Us?" Jack asked a little skeptically.

"Yes!" North said with a proud smile. "We collect teeth and children believe! Is simple as pie, no? And Jack, if you help us, we get your memories back. Yours and Lillian's."

At this, a determined look entered Jack's eyes.

"First we get Lillian back," he said. "Then we get the teeth."

"As _disappointin'_ as that is, I think we need ta get the teeth first," Bunny said with a meaningful look at Jack.

Jack flinched a little and his eyes widened. Had he heard?!

"But-!" Jack tried to argue, but Sandy cut him off with a golden image of a sleigh appearing over his head.

"Sandy is right," North said. "Whatever we do, first we must go in sleigh."

* * *

While Pitch was finishing his discussion with the Guardians, Lillian was sitting in the cage sadly. She wiped some more tears away from her face as she suddenly felt like the frightened six year old she had been when she first met Pitch.

She almost wished Pitch was there, even if he was acting strangely. But the doubt of not knowing whether it was Pitch who wanted her in the cage or not made her shoulders slump. This place, Pitch's lair, had been her home for so long now. And here she was, hurt and trapped in a large birdcage with an evil black horse glaring up at her.

She frowned at the horse. She didn't like it. It was strange and she realized that she felt more frightened when it was around. She was frightened of it, but she noticed that for no reason whatsoever she felt _more_ afraid than she really should have been.

As she realized this, her bracelet glowed a little as her turbulent emotions were setting off her spring powers a little. The glowing startled her and she stared down at her bracelet.

Then a grin started to creep onto her face as she remembered her spring powers. She looked back down at the black horse and now it was her turn to give it a look of malicious glee.

Before the Nightmare knew what was happening, several thick, green vines grew up from the stone floor and wrapped around it, essentially pinning it down to the ground.

Remembering the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, Lillian had a very thick vine sprout up from the ground directly under her cage. She had intended to have it go to the cage door and yank it open, but she hadn't gauged the distance properly and instead the vine knocked the cage off its hook and it tumbled to the ground.

Lillian cried out as she felt like one of the balls in a pinball machine. She sat up as the cage was now on the ground and knew she'd definitely be bruised. She noticed however, that the fall had jarred the cage door open. So she climbed out of the cage and looked up at all the others that housed the Tooth Fairy's helpers.

She furrowed her brow as she realized that there were simply too many of them and she didn't know when Pitch would be coming back.

"Don't worry, I'll get help." she told them as they began to chirp in earnest as she ran out of the room.

She raced into her cave-room and navigated around the clutter with practiced ease. Pitch hadn't noticed, but Lillian's room had started getting messy at around the time she would have been a teenager.

Even though she was much older now, she still hadn't bothered tidying up. Pitch had never said anything as he was too busy, and a part of her had secretly wanted Pitch to notice and scold her like a normal parent would.

This had never happened though, so Lillian's room still looked like a small tornado hit it.

She grabbed up an old book bag and began to unceremoniously stuff some of her most precious possessions in it. The book of fairy tales went in as well as a few books she had been meaning to read and a few other odds and ends.

Then she went over to her little closet and folded a few of her colorful dresses, carefully leaving her once favorite black dress behind. She tucked those into her bag and stuffed an extra cloak on top.

With one last look around her room, she realized what she was doing. She was leaving her home.. She shook her head. No. It wasn't her home anymore.

She knew that she couldn't stay here while Pitch was acting this way. As she heard Pitch arrive in the globe room, her bracelet glowed as she summed her Giant Flower of Doom.

Pitch's footsteps could be heard coming towards her room, but it was too late. The flower gobbled her up and as Pitch looked in the doorway, he saw the flower shrink back down into the ground and disappear.

He clenched his hands into fists as he stared at the spot that his Lillian had been.

She was gone.

* * *

Jack and the Guardians (or rather, Jack and Bunny) were in the sleigh, arguing about the destination. North had a snow globe out, but didn't seem to know exactly where they should go as he glanced back at his passengers uncertainly.

"We have to rescue Lillian!" Jack shouted at Bunny, as it began to snow a little unnaturally in the usually warm climate surrounding Tooth's Palace.

"We gotta get the teeth! And we don't know where the anklebiter is!" Bunny shouted right back.

Sandy gave Tooth a look as they watched the pair argue. The two were so intent on their argument in fact, that they failed to notice that right in the middle of the sleigh, a spot began to glow.

"What's more important?!" Jack glared at Bunny. "Lillian's a _kid!_ Don't you protect ALL children?!"

Bunny flinched slightly at this accusation and was about to reply, when suddenly a really big tulip grew right out of the metal of the sleigh.

The Guardians all stared at this normally impossible phenomenon, but Jack looked relieved. Then he realized the sleigh wasn't _that_ big and how high up in the air they were.

"Uh, guys - " Jack said, trying to explain, but it was too late.

There was a loud 'PATOOEY!' and suddenly Lillian was thrown from the flower, right over their heads and into the open air.

She started to scream, but Sandy very calmly stepped up to the edge of the sleigh and right over the edge.

A few moments later, he flew up with Lillian sitting on his golden cloud.

"Lillian!" Jack cried out happily.

A very windswept and ragged Lillian gave him a half-smile.

"Hey, Jack," she quietly said back.

"Now we get teeth!" North shouted as he said the name of a country to the globe and tossed it into the air in front of them.

Before anything more could be said to the Child of Spring, the sleigh zipped through the portal and vanished.

* * *

Author's Note: Bet you didn't see that coming! Or.. maybe you did, but I bet you didn't expect Lillian to kick a Nightmare's butt and appear right on the sleigh. :) There is a teeny tiny little plot point in there that will come back later to bring up major problems, so you get bonus points if you can figure out what that is exactly and what's going to happen. The next chapter will feature the Guardians being all silly as they collect teeth, and maybe some bonding? Or at least a lack of suspicious glares! I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, so I'll tentatively say by at LEAST next weekend. But don't hold me to that! As always, if you have any suggestions or ideas for the plot, don't hesitate to speak up! Also, if you have any ideas on other spirits to include later (for when the movie part has concluded and we get right into what happens after that) let me know too. Remember, not all plot I've thought up is set in stone and is subject to change, so you guys can still influence what's happening in the story. Anyway, until next time!


	19. Chapter 19: Fallen Dreams

Author's Note: Thanks to all who faved, followed and reviewed. Only one person guessed about my obscure hint in the last chapter and they didn't pick up on it. And no, I won't say if anything is going on with Pitch. I will say that the background info is helpful and I have some ideas for future plot. Just a warning, this chapter and the next one will be very sad. Anyway, on with the fic!

Chapter Nineteen: Fallen Dreams

Once the sleigh came out of the portal, Bunny took a good look at the child spirit. Her dress was torn, and it looked like she had a makeshift bandage on her arm. He could also see the beginning of several bruises on her. Not only that, but it was the fact that she was so quiet that had him worried, and her eyes looked so terribly sad.

"We'll get ya fixed up back at the Pole, after we help Tooth collect some teeth, alrigh'?" Bunny said to her in a friendly tone that he reserved just for kids.

Lillian looked over at him, very confused.

"Teeth?"

Jack sighed sadly at this.

"Pitch stole all the Tooth Fairy's fairies and she doesn't have any helpers to help her collect teeth anymore. If we don't help her out, then the kids will stop believing in her and she'll fade away forever." Jack explained to her.

Lillian gasped aloud at this. That was terrible!

"So we're going to help her out by collecting teeth tonight," Jack said.

"And I'll get the most out of all of ya," Bunny boasted as North landed the sleigh on a roof.

"Oh yeah, Cottontail?" Jack shot back with a cocky smirk. "Wanna bet?"

"Oh ya don't wanna race a Pooka, mate." Bunny said with a smirk of his own.

"Maybe I do!" Jack shouted as with a sudden blast of the wind, he and Lillian took off into the air.

Lillian shivered at the icy wind but grinned at the rapidly shrinking sleigh.

"We'll beat you Easter Bunny!" she called down to Bunny.

"A race? Is it a race?" North asked as he raced along rooftops, popping in and out of chimneys.

It wasn't before long that all the Guardians (except for Tooth) and Jack and Lillian were trying to one up each other and stealing everyone else's teeth. Sandy was the worst offender as he'd wait for Jack and Bunny to steal from each other and then he'd steal the teeth from the 'winner.'

It even got so bad, that they started using their powers. Bunny used his to trap Jack temporarily in a hole and Jack blasted Bunny with his frost powers. Lillian even got in on it as she had vines trip Bunny and claimed his teeth for her own.

It wasn'tlong before they were all back by Tooth, who was beaming at them.

"You guys collect teeth and leave gifts almost as fast as my fairies!"

The rest of the Guardians and Jack all exchanged guilty looks at that.

"..You have been leaving gifts haven't you?" Tooth asked a little hesitantly.

Lillian raised her hand at this.

"I remembered!" she said proudly. "The Tooth Fairy leaves a quarter!"

Tooth looked at everyone else unhappily and sighed.

One trip to the change machine at the laundromat and soon everyone was leaving quarters under pillows. Or in some cases, improvising by leaving eggs, Christmas gifts, beautiful frost patterns on windows and bouquets of spring flowers.

Tooth would've had a fit if she knew, but thankfully she didn't double check on their work. Soon enough, the Guardians finished with that part of the world, and the sleigh disappeared through a portal.

A lone Nightmare watched from the shadows with golden eyes. It gave a soft neigh as it took off for Pitch's.

* * *

Pitch looked very displeased when the Nightmare arrived at his lair. He had been staring at the fallen cage that Lillian had been put in when the Nightmare wandered over by him and neighed to get his attention. He frowned at it as he ran his fingers through its mane. He saw flashes of the Guardians, Jack and Lillian collecting the teeth.

He glared at the Nightmare angrily.

"She dared to escape me and help _them_ collect the teeth?" he said as he turned his attention to the globe. "Well, you can have your last hurrah."

He formed an image of Sandy out of black sand and crushed it.

"All your efforts will have been for nothing." he said as he watched the particles of black sand drift down. "I'll have you one way or the other, child. I'll crush the Guardians and after I show Jack what happens to traitors, I'll reclaim you both."

He stared moodily at the globe as two blue lights, both somewhat dim but growing brighter, made their way to Burgess.

* * *

The Guardians, Jack and Lillian found themselves regrouping at Jamie's house. At first it was Tooth, Jack and Lillian that were there. Tooth and Jack checked out Jamie's drawing of his adventurous day while Lillian looked at Jamie's book again. Soon Sandy, North and Bunny found them and they all compared their bags of teeth.

"I hate to brag, buuut.." Jack grinned as he held up his sizeable bag of teeth.

"You call that a bag of chompers?" Bunny smirked at him, "Now _this_ is a bag of chompers!"

Bunny proudly held up his own bag, which was larger than Jack's.

"I did good too!" Lillian said as she held up her own bag, which was about the same as Jack's.

Sandy also held up his bag, which was decent sized.

"This isn't contest," North said, "But if it was.." he held up his own bag which was the largest. "I win!"

North gave a victory cry and broke out in a Russian dance. Everyone tried shushing North, but it was too late. Jamie's flashlight beam shone on all of them and they froze.

"Santa!" Jamie cried out happily. "And the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Sandman!"

"He.. he can see us?" Jack asked.

Bunny gave Jack and Lillian both a look of pity.

"Most of us," Bunny told Jack.

Jack's shoulders slumped as he realized that Jamie's light was shining on everyone but him and Lillian. Lillian slipped her hand into Jack's, as Jamie's dog suddenly woke up at the commotion and began to growl at Bunny.

"Easy there, mate." Bunny said nervously to the dog.

"Abbie!" Jamie scolded, "Stop it! That's the Easter Bunny!"

"That's a greyhound," Jack said, getting a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Jack.." Lillian said warningly, but Jack ignored her.

"Do you know what they do to rabbits?" Jack smirked at Bunny, but the hurt was still there. Teasing Bunny helped though.

"Rabbit?" Bunny scoffed as Lillian sighed, "I happen to be a master of Tai Chi - "

BRRRRIIIIINNNNG!

"Crikey!" Bunny cried out as Jamie's dog chased him everywhere around the room, even up the walls.

"Jaaack!" Lillian shouted at him. She had seen Jack set the alarm off with his staff.

"Sandy!" North said. "Do something!"

Sandy punched his fist into his palm as everyone not panicking looked appalled.

"Dreamsand, ya gumby!" Bunny shouted as he continued to run around the room.

Sandy formed a big ball of dreamsand, but the dog messed up his aim and the dreamsand went wild. Sandy caught Jamie as he went flying when North fell on the bed. One flash of dreamsand later, and soon only Jack and Sandy were the only ones awake.

Jack rubbed the back of his head.

"Whoops," he said as he surveyed the damage.

North and Bunny each had golden candy canes and carrots above their heads. The carrots grabbed the candy canes and started dancing.

"Aww, I wish I had my camera," Jack said with a grin, repeating a phrase he often heard.

Sandy was looking around as well, when a golden exclamation point appeared over his head. He pointed and Jack looked at where he was pointing.

"Oh.." Jack said, as he looked awkward. "Uh.."

Sandy crossed his arms with a frown as he looked at Lillian, who had a golden Pitch above her head, reading a book to a small girl.

"I can explain - " Jack started, but a Nightmare chose that moment to show up in Jamie's window.

Jack chased after it, using the wind to fly through the air. "C'mon Sandy! We have to make sure they stay away from the others!"

Sandy sighed, but flew out the window on his golden cloud. Another Nightmare appeared and they split up, Sandy chasing his Nightmare through a house.

Jack chased his to a rooftop and blasted it with a blast of winter magic from his staff. He grinned triumphantly at it.

"Sandy! Look at this!" He said as he poked the black mess on the roof.

A figure appeared from the shadows behind him.

"Jack?" a familiar voice behind Jack said.

Jack whirled around to see Pitch.

"P-Pitch!" Jack stammered in surprise. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"More importantly Jack, what are you doing here?" Pitch sneered at him, then realized Sandy was right there and sidestepped away from him. "Ahh, now this is who I wanted to -"

Sandy formed golden whips out of dreamsand and lashed out at Pitch. The look on his face was clear: _Get away from Jack._

Pitch retaliated by forming a large scythe out of the black sand as Jack stared at it in horror. Just as he was about to protest, Sandy grabbed Pitch with a golden whip and flung him all over into the buildings. He finally let Pitch go, and Pitch fell over into a heap onto the ground.

Sandy calmly stepped off of the roof as he dusted his hands off.

Jack bit his lip as he followed Sandy down to the ground. He covered his worry for Pitch by cracking a joke.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Pitch had gotten to his feet by now and was looking at Sandy nervously.

"Sandy.. I know it was foolish to mess with your dreamsand. So I tell you what.." Pitch said as his face morphed into an evil smirk. "You can have 'em back!"

A giant wave of black sand came around Jack and Sandy as hundreds of Nightmares surrounded them.

"Pitch!" Jack called out. "Don't do this!"

Sandy gave Jack a curious look. Why did he sound so familiar with Pitch? And why was Lillian dreaming about him. He shook his head, resolving to confront Jack about him it after the fight.

" Actions have their consequences, Jack." Pitch replied as the Nightmares began attacking.

Everyone paused though, when the sleigh flew overhead. They could see North asleep at the reins with the other Guardians and Lillian struggling to stay awake. The bottom of the sleigh hit a building, jolting them awake.

Sandy grabbed Jack by his hoodie and flew into the air. He tossed Jack aside and flew off, drawing a good portion of the Nightmares with him.

The wind caught Jack and he flew around, blasting the remaining Nightmares. He dropped down, causing two Nightmares to crash into each other. As he laughed at them, a third hit his hand that was holding the staff, causing him to lose his grip on it. He suddenly found himself free falling as he scrabbled desperately in the air, trying to reach his staff.

He finally managed to grab a hold of it and landed roughly on the sleigh, that North had maneuvered under him, just in case. Jack found himself face to face with Bunny, who was holding his boomerangs threateningly.

"You might want to duck," Bunny said calmly as Jack ducked. He threw his boomerangs at two Nightmares that exploded into black sand.

Jack looked relieved as for a minute he thought Bunny was going to attack him. His relief was short lived however, when a Nightmare flew close by them.

They heard an ear piercing scream as it kicked the smallest occupant out if the sleigh.

Lillian had been trying to fix her bandage while the battle with the Nightmares raged around her. She had snuck aboard the sleigh when the sleepy Guardians took off and now she was regretting it, since she couldn't fly and didn't have cool moves like Bunny.

She was really regretting it when the Nightmare kicked her off the sleigh. She watched as her bandage flew off her arm and the into the air. Her eyes widened as she saw Bunny's boomerang fly towards her, but it flew under her and she heard the sounds of some Nightmares exploding. She turned a little to see and suddenly found herself flipping over.

She fell right through a large cloud of black sand and threw her arms up to cover her face. She cried out when the black sand hit her wound.

Before she had time to do anything else, the breath was knocked out of her as two slender arms wrapped around her waist and she suddenly jerked to a stop.

She found herself being deposited back into the sleigh by Tooth. As she was set down, she heard Jack cry out.

"We gotta help Sandy!" Jack shouted as he suddenly flew off.

"No!" North shouted after Jack.

They could all see that Sandy was completely overwhelmed by the black sand and Jack wouldn't be able to handle that on his own.

Lillian stared in horror as a black arrow sailed through the air and struck Sandy right in the back. The blackness spread and Pitch appeared by Sandy to gloat.

Lillian watched as Pitch mocked Sandy. Tears filled her eyes as she saw Sandy give up struggling and was consumed by the black sand.

"NOOOOO!" Jack cried out as he put on a burst of speed, but it was too late. The wave of black sand suddenly turned on Jack, who quickly realized he was overwhelmed and tried to back up, but couldn't.

"Jack!"

Bunny had to restrain Lillian so she wouldn't jump out if the sleigh to go after Jack. Tears poured down her cheeks as she stared st the black cloud of sand.

Suddenly as all hope seemed lost, blue lightning lit up the cloud and all the black sand exploded in a huge burst of winter magic. Tooth flew to Jack, who seemed to be unconscious, and caught him. She flew him to the sleigh and gently set him down by Lillian.

Lillian started sobbing loudly as she clung onto Jack.

" I never knew you could do that," Tooth said softly to him.

"I.. I didn't either," he said dazedly.

Pitch, who had been knocked out of the air, watched the sleigh disappear through a portal with a strange expression on his face. He could hear Lillian's sobs get cut off as they disappeared. His expression cleared when a lone Nightmare came up to him, and he absently began to pet it. His look became more calculating as he stared at the spot where the sleigh had been. With Jack this powerful, this would take some thinking about.

* * *

Author's Note: Next chapter is #20 and major stuff will be going down! I can't wait. I'll see about updating this weekend, but just in case, don't plan on it. As always, if you have plot suggestions or drabble ideas, let me know!

 **Edit:** Finally fixed this chapter up. I added the line breaks and put something in italics that I forgot. Not necessary for reading the chapter, but it makes it nicer. Expect an update soon. :)


	20. Chapter 20: Easter

Author's Note: Thanks for all the faves, follows and reviews. This fic officially now has over 6,000 views! That is super amazing. :) Once again the chapter ran away on me. I was thinking I'd be able to mostly finish the movie up, but this chapter had to end where it did. So yes, some stuff went down but all the _major_ stuff I was hinting at will be in the next chapter. This chapter was also depressing.. You guys know how the movie is. There's tons of depression until towards the very end. Anywho, here's the chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty: Easter

As soon as the sleigh had landed, Bunny whisked Lillian off to the infirmary and helped take care of her injuries. A depressed Jack Frost followed after, while North and Tooth prepared for the funeral. All of them were in shock that _Sandy_ had died.

A short while later found the three remaining Guardians gathered around in a semi-circle, with candles lit. Carved into the floor was a picture of Sandy. North, Tooth and Bunny all stared down morosely at it as North began to say a few words.

Off by the big windows, Jack sat with his hood up on his blue hoodie. Anyone who knew him, knew that he only put it up when he was very upset. Lillian sat beside him, her face buried into his side and her tears soaking his shirt.

Both Lillian and Jack and grown very fond of the little Sandman. Not only did he give them both good dreams, but he was the one Guardian that they saw the most. He was the one who understood their need for independence, but also that they were children at heart. He was always there to listen in silent support and if he had time in the Winter, then he didn't mind tossing around a snowball or two.

In the last few years, Lillian had been looking forward to the visits she had with him more and more, as the nightmares had been getting worse. The only times she ever had really good dreams were when she saw the Sandman in person, as his good dreams couldn't penetrate Pitch's lair.

Now that was all.. gone. There was no more Sandman to make things better. There would be no more good dreams. All she had now would be nothing or vicious nightmares that left her feeling horrible and empty inside.

She wasn't only crying for Sandy though.. She had almost lost _both_ Jack and Sandy. It had been so close. If Jack hadn't of had that surge of power, she was almost certain that Pitch would have killed _her_ Jack. Her very best friend.

She definitely didn't understand what was going on with Pitch anymore. He wasn't anything like she remembered him being before he started playing around with that black sand. He had been the one she had looked up to the most. She had even started thinking of him as more like a parent, and then.. it all stopped. He pulled away from her and Jack and became _obsessed_ with that sand and defeating the Guardians.

She pulled away from Jack a little as Jack touched a pinky to the corner of the window and an image of Sandy appeared in the frost. Lillian kept her gaze averted from it as just looking at a frosty Sandy was hard.

"Wh.. what are we going to do?" she asked Jack in a very small, quiet voice. "Pitch _killed_ him. He almost.." she sniffled and held back a sob. "He almost killed _you._ "

Jack looked from his frost image of Sandy down to Lillian. He gazed at her worriedly. She sounded so.. so.. _lost._

Even though she'd changed out of the ragged dress and into a light pink dress she had brought, she still looked a little worse for wear. He noticed now that he was really looking at her, that she was pale and had dark circles under her eyes. When was the last time she had slept? When was the last time _any_ of them had slept? Without Sandy there to scold them, he couldn't be sure.

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"I don't know. I guess we'll stick with the Guardians for now? What else can we do?"

As Jack answered her, he realized he sounded just as lost as she did. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, being mindful of the bandage on her arm. He didn't want to admit it, but he really wished the old Pitch was there to reassure them that everything would be fine.

Lillian wiped more tears from her eyes as she looked down at her bandaged arm. Bunny had thoroughly cleaned it out when Lillian confessed that she thought some of the black sand had gotten in it. Bunny's face had gone curiously blank at that information and he had been very careful to clean it out as best he could.

Lillian wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that the black sand that the horses _, Nightmares_ , were made of seemed so evil. She hadn't wanted to worry Jack, but ever since the wild sleigh ride she had been feeling a little off. Even though she was very sad about Sandy and Jack, she was also getting angry. Very angry.

Pitch was the one causing all the problems. If it wasn't for him, she and Jack would probably be at Pitch's right now having fun, instead of mourning the loss of Sandy. Not to mention that Pitch had almost killed Jack! Why would he do that?!

As Lillian started silently fuming, North finally approached the two.

"Jack? Lillian? You alright?" North asked them gently, as he took in Jack's frost picture of Sandy.

Jack's shoulders slumped and Lillian sniffled as all the hurt of losing Sandy flooded in again.

"I just.. I _wish_ I could've done something," Jack confessed as he lowered his hood.

North looked surprised by this.

"But Jack! You did do something! You saved us all. Without you, we would have been lost," he said gently to Jack.

"But Sandy - " Jack started, but North cut him off.

"Would have been proud of what you did," North said firmly to the boy as he put a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder.

Jack stood up and helped Lillian to her feet as well.

"I don't know who you were in your past life, but now you are Guardian." North said warmly to Jack, with a nod at Lillian.

Jack had constantly proved he was a Guardian by how well he looked after his best friend.

Jack glanced down at Lillian, not really feeling like he was doing much to help her out now. She was essentially homeless and abandoned by what she considered her father figure. He looked back up at North.

"But how can I know who I am, until I find out what I was?" he asked North uncertainly.

North gave him a sad smile.

"You will. I feel it in my belly."

Lillian tilted her head at North and Jack.

"Who you were?" she asked.

Jack suddenly remembered that Lillian missed most of his revelations on memories as she had been kidnapped by Pitch at Tooth's Palace.

"I guess that you and I were someone before we became spirits. We were humans with lives and _families_."

Lillian's eyes widened at this.

"Tooth keeps the memories in our baby teeth," Jack explained. "But we can't see them since Pitch stole all the teeth."

Lillian visibly deflated at that. She really wanted to see what she had been like as a human and what her family also looked like. Did she have brothers and sisters? A mother? Pitch was a wonderful dad (before he became super evil), but Lillian had always secretly wanted a mother.

She wondered if her mother was still alive now, and if not, what had happened to her. As a spirit Lillian wasn't that old yet. If she had the chance to see any of her family..

She shivered a little at the revelation and realized that Jack and North had met up with Bunny and Tooth by the globe. Jack had grabbed her hand and led her over without her realizing.

Lillian's eyes widened as she saw all the lights that were going out. There were so many!

Jack flew up to land on the globe and get a better look at the lights that were going out.

"It's fear," Jack said softly. "He's tipped the balance."

Bunny took a look at all the somber faces and twirled a boomerang.

"Hey, buck up ya sad sacks." Bunny said, trying to lighten the mood. "Easter is tomorrow and I'm gonna need your help to get those little lights flickering again!"

Lillian half listened to Bunny as she continued to gaze up at the globe. Where were those strange blue lights? She finally spotted them way at the top of the globe, by the North Pole.

Huh.. wasn't that were she and Jack were?

Wait a minute..

She looked around and suddenly realized that the only people on the Pole who could _possibly_ be kids were her and Jack. She remembered suddenly that Jack wasn't quite an adult yet, and she would never really grow up. She studied the blue lights. They were getting dim again. She squinted at one of the lights. It wasn't exactly growing dimmer, but it seemed darker somehow.

She was about to point this out to the others, but she found herself being whisked off by Jack as he followed the other Guardians through North's workshop.

"As much as it pains me to say, this time Easter is more important than Christmas," North said.

Bunny looked around at the others excitedly.

"Didja hear that?!"

North started to lead them to the double doors that led to where the sleigh was kept.

"Come, we get sleigh ready!" North said.

Bunny stopped in his tracks.

"Oh no, mate. My Warren, my rules."

He gave a smug little smirk at North and indicated the floor underneath them all.

"Buckle up!"

Bunny tapped his foot on the ground and a massive hole appeared underneath the Guardians. He laughed as they all cried out in shock and fell though. He quickly jumped down into it and followed after the others.

Jack had grabbed Lillian and laughed happily as the wind helped him through the tunnel. The inside of the tunnel was very green and bright and full of the magic of Spring.

They soon flew out of the other end of the tunnel and landed in a clearing. Jack and Lillian looked around in awe as North fell out of the tunnel in a heap. Tooth had used her wings and flown out.

Bunny hopped out graciously, and smirked at the heap on the ground that was North. North sat up and got to his feet unsteadily with a groan.

"Buckle up.. Is very funny," North said as he stretched his back.

Lillian looked around in awe. Bunny's warren was amazing! There were all sorts spring flowers around, not to mention hills and the grass was the greenest she had ever seen. She glanced down at her feet to see that spring flowers were sprouting up where she stood. She looked back out at the scenery to see that there was a colorful river flowing though the middle of the Warren.

It was so _beautiful_.

A sound coming out of one of the tunnels made them all freeze. Much to Lillian's irritation, all the Guardians suddenly shoved her back behind them as they took up defensive positions in front of her.

Bunny had whipped out his boomerangs, North had his swords out and Jack was holding his staff. Tooth got her fists ready and they all prepared for Pitch to come out of the tunnel.

Bunny let out a loud battle cry as they started to rush forward, but then they all stopped as little Sophie Bennet toddled out of the tunnel. She walked right up to the Guardians, who very sheepishly and quickly hid their weapons away and put friendly smiles on their faces.

"Bunny! Hop hop hop!" Sophie exclaimed as she hopped around joyfully.

She soon got distracted by one of North's elves and chased after it.

"Elf elf elf!" she said as she tried to catch it.

She was distracted by that when some Easter eggs wandered by. They all tried to hide from her and she peered into their hiding place.

"Peekaboo!"

Lillian walked out from behind the Guardians to watch Sophie as all the Guardians started panicking, Bunny especially.

"What are we gonna do?!" Bunny said as he panicked. "Easter'll be ruined!"

Jack couldn't help but laugh a bit at that.

"If Easter could be ruined by one kid, then you've got problems," he told Bunny.

His staff glowed a little as he summoned a tiny bit of his winter magic and made one of his special snowflakes. He guided it over with a little help from the wind and soon it hit his intended target: Bunny's nose.

Lillian saw the little burst of blue sparkles, indicating that Jack's winter magic was at play.

All the worry left Bunny's face and he wandered over by Sophie. He smiled gently at her as he knelt down to her level.

"Wanna help me paint some eggs?" Bunny asked her.

"Okay!" Sophie eagerly agreed with a giggle.

Soon all the Guardians, Jack, Lillian and Sophie were helping to paint Easter Eggs. Lillian was especially happy that Phil had decided to tag along and she happily sat right next to him and helped him paint some eggs by hand.

The others were herding the eggs to the dye river to get dyed various different colors.

Lillian couldn't help but giggle as Bunny came by. Phil had painted a huge stack of eggs red.

"Too Christmas-y mate," Bunny informed the devastated yeti. "Paint 'em blue."

Phil cried out as he took in all the very many red eggs he now had to repaint. Lillian reached over and patted Phil on the arm consolingly.

"We can paint some stripes on some," she said. "That way you don't have to completely repaint all the eggs."

She didn't notice as Jack sat atop one of the large stone golems that were walking around amongst all the eggs. Jack spotted Lillian next to Phil and grinned, before he noticed her appearance.

If he didn't know any better, her hair looked darker than before and she was practically turning gray in exhaustion. Lillian chose that moment to look up at smile at him.

Her eyes had always been a nice emerald, right? But now they looked more like a yellowish-green.

He shook his head. It had to be a trick of the light. They were all so busy with dealing with one event after the other that they hadn't really taken the time to take care of themselves. He was sure after a good long sleep that Lillian would look more like herself. After Easter, he decided. He would talk with the others if he had to, but Lillian was getting a decent night's sleep. Even if spirits didn't need as much rest as normal humans, Lillian still had the body of a child.

It wasn't long before the Guardians were looking at all the eggs that were beautifully painted. Bunny had spent the entire time playing with Sophie and having her help get the eggs painted. He had let her see his special Easter flowers that spritzed color down on the eggs, giving them more designs or making them sparkly.

He sat down on the grass, looking out at all his hard work with satisfaction. A sleeping Sophie was in his arms.

"Not bad," Jack said with a grin at Bunny.

Bunny grinned back as all his misgivings about Jack melted away. The kid had worked just as hard as the rest of them to make sure that Easter would happen. Even though Jack had claimed he wasn't hard work and deadlines, he could do it for the kids. He would do anything to help out the kids, and Bunny had to admit it, but the kid would make an excellent Guardian.

"Not bad yourself," he replied to Jack.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck.

"Look.. I'm.. I'm sorry about the kangaroo thing," he said to Bunny.

Bunny sighed.

"It's the accent, isn't it?"

The other Guardians and Lillian came up behind Bunny and Jack. North and Tooth's faces softened as Lillian stood beside Jack.

"Aw, poor little anklebiter. She's all tuckered out," Bunny said as he looked down at Sophie.

"I love her," Tooth said with emotion as she stared down at Sophie. They had missed out on so much, and thanks to Jack and Lillian they had been shown what they were missing.

They were the Guardians, but they had always done their jobs from a distance. They hadn't interacted with the children in years.

As they all looked down at the sleeping Sophie, they knew that would change.

"I think it's time to take her home," Tooth said as she reached out for Sophie.

"Why don't I take her home?" Jack offered.

"Jack, no!" Tooth said. "Pitch is - "

Jack's eyes widened a bit at the thought of running into Pitch, but then he glanced at his staff. He covered his worry with a smirk.

"No match for this," he said as he gave his staff a twirl.

Jack reached over and gently took Sophie into his arms. He shook his head as he was able to hold her just fine. Apparently he only went through kids when they were awake.

"That's why we need ya here," Bunny said impatiently, "in case Pitch attacks the eggs."

"Stop worrying, Cottontail!" Jack said with a laugh. "Trust me. I'll be quick as a bunny."

Lillian piped up as Jack was preparing to leave.

"I wanna come too!"

Before the Guardians could protest, the wind whipped up and picked up both Jack and Lillian. Soon they were flying through Burgess towards Jamie's house.

The Guardians all looked at each other worriedly as Jack and Lillian left with Sophie. Tooth realized that Baby Tooth had snuck out with Jack as she couldn't find her little fairy anywhere.

* * *

Jack carefully opened Sophie's window and deposited Sophie with some difficulty onto the bed. Lillian giggled at Sophie as Baby Tooth hovered nearby. Baby Tooth tweeted worryingly at Jack.

Jacked waved a hand dismissively at Baby Tooth.

"Don't worry, we still have plenty of time." he said.

 _"Jaaack.."_

"Wh-what was that?" Jack said, his eyes going wide. He rushed over to the window with Lillian and the wind picked them up. He landed on the roof and listened hard.

 _"Jaaaack!"_

"..I.. I know that voice!" Jack said to Lillian, looking astonished. "I have to find out what it is!"

The wind grabbed them both and Lillian shivered as Jack flew at top speed toward whatever that voice was.

"Jack.." Lillian called out over the rush of the wind. "I don't know if this is a good idea!"

Jack ignored both Lillian and Baby Tooth's protests as he followed the sound of that voice right into Pitch's lair. He looked around as they all landed on the ground in Pitch's globe room.

The room was darker than ever, as without Lillian living there any longer, Pitch didn't have to have torches or any other light. The only light that lit up the globe room now was the natural light that filtered in through the hole under the bed frame.

Jack noticed all the bird cages and his face lit up.

"The fairies! C'mon, we have to rescue them!"

Lillian looked around at the dark globe room. Before, she had always been a little afraid of the dark, even after she had gotten used to living at Pitch's. Now she felt very comfortable. It was a little strange.. She liked being at Bunny's Warren since all the spring magic of it called out to her, but as she had been painting eggs, she noticed it was a little.. bright. Now however, she felt right at home in the semi-darkness.

Her attention was diverted back to Jack as Jack discovered that not only did Pitch have all the fairies, but he had all the teeth as well.

Jack leaped down from one of the cages to a pile of the tooth canisters down below and frantically began to search for his baby teeth.

"I have to find them," Jack muttered to himself as he ignored Baby Tooth tugging on the hood of his hoodie.

"Looking for something?" a voice rang out from the darkness.

Lillian gasped as Pitch stepped forward into the dim light. He was holding two golden teeth cases. One had a picture of a boy with brown hair and brown eyes, while the other had the picture of a small girl with lighter brown hair and gray eyes.

Their baby teeth.

"My teeth!" Jack said as he stood up.

Pitch smirked as Jack started to reach out for them, then hesitated.

"So you're still worried about what _they_ think?" He held out Jack's tooth case teasingly to him. "You want to grab the teeth and fly off with them, but you're worried about what the Guardians will think. Of disappointing them. Of not being good enough for them."

Lillian stared as Pitch started getting Jack all turned around in the darkness. Jack backed up against a wall.

"S-stop it! STOP IT!" Jack cried out as he couldn't handle Pitch delving into his secret fears like that.

"Pitch!" Lillian called out angrily. How dare he make Jack scared like that!

Pitch paused and glanced over at Lillian. He had almost forgotten about the child. He took in her appearance and his eyes lit up in malicious glee. Oh yes.. This would do quite nicely.

Jack suddenly found himself back where he started as Pitch shoved Jack's tooth case into his hands.

He gave Jack a big shove into a shadow and as Jack stumbled out, he heard Pitch's mocking voice call out to him.

"Happy Easter, Jack."

Jack turned around to see the face of a stone golem carved into the rock.

"No!" he cried out as he beat a fist on it. "Lillian! Baby Tooth!"

He had forgotten them! Now they were trapped at Pitch's. As he turned back around, he saw that he was in one of Bunny's tunnels and a trail of broken Easter Eggs were leading to the surface.

* * *

Pitch walked over by Lillian and gently touched one of her darkening curls.

"Very soon, you'll be all mine," he said to her. "You'll be my Nightmare Princess."

Lillian stared up at Pitch in horror.

"Wh.. what?"

Pitch smirked at her.

"How would you like a Nightmare Prince?"

* * *

Author's Note: Did you see that coming?! I bet not! That's what I was hinting about before. I realize my hints suck, but there you go. So yeah, _next_ chapter is going to be when things get super interesting/angsty. Unless the chapter gets huge, I shooould be able to finish up the movie? Maybe? Don't hold me to that though. As for the Nightmare Princess/Prince, I had read a fic somewhere that did that, and I googled Pitch when I first started the story and background info said that he periodically in the books tried turning children into a Fearling Prince or Princess. So I took that and ran with it. In the movie they're referred to as Nightmares, so.. Nightmare Princess! I'll leave it up to you to figure out how that happened to Lillian. Pitch didn't actively do it on purpose, but he's not looking a gift horse in the mouth. So what do you think? Do you think Pitch will manage to change Jack? Or will the Guardians come to their senses in time?

And I know, someone FINALLY figures out the blue lights and now she's not in a position to tell anyone. You think the Guardians can figure it out on their own? If you have any plot suggestions now that stuff is going down, you should definitely tell me soon as I'll be updating probably midweek. Maybe. I won't say definitely, but I'm super excited to continue!


	21. Chapter 21: Nightmare Prince

Author's Note: Ok, so first thing's first. Don't kill me! I know I said I'd mostly get through the movie, but this chapter ran away on me again. I actually had everything all nicely planned out but then things just went.. I dunno! But you have to admit, it'll make things more interesting~. I'm sorry this chapter isn't as long as the last, but it seemed like a good stopping point. I have a feeling that getting through the rest of the movie will take longer than I thought, so that's why I split it up into two chapters. I will get through most of the rest of the movie in the next chapter, and there will be a final showdown. As for reviews, I'll address them at the end of this chapter as one deals with plot. So without further ado, enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One: Nightmare Prince

Jack's heart plummeted when he saw the trail of broken Easter eggs. The eggs that they had all worked so hard on were now completely ruined. Guilt wormed its way inside him as he realized that if he had just listened to Bunny in the first place, not only would Lillian and Baby Tooth be safe right now, but he could have helped save all the Easter eggs.

He dejectedly followed the trail up to the surface as he wondered how he could even begin to make this up to Bunny. He sighed sadly at the thought, but knew that if he could just explain himself to the Guardians, they might not be happy about it, but would at least understand. If he hadn't of been tricked by Pitch to go to his lair, this would never have happened.

He nodded to himself. He just had to have faith in the Guardians. They were good people, and they would understand. Repeating this to himself, he paused as the tunnel ended at the surface. Climbing out, he found himself near a clearing where some kids were dejectedly talking. He could see Bunny and the other Guardians watching.

The kids seemed to be British judging by their accents and were discussing how this was the worst Easter ever and there weren't any eggs.

Bunny chose that moment to dart forward and explain that the eggs he had weren't the best, but..

The kid seemed to be talking to Bunny as she expressed her displeasure, but then to Jack's and Bunny's horror, the kids walked right _through_ Bunny.

Having dealt with this his entire spirit life, Jack knew just how horrible it was to have kids walk right through you. It made you feel cold and empty inside, like _nothing_. It was the only time that Jack knew what it was like to be cold, as being walked through made even him shiver.

Deciding he better explain things to Bunny, he darted forward out of his hiding place. He walked up to Bunny, but it was Tooth and North who spotted him first.

"Jack where were you?" North asked as he looked weary. "Pitch and his Nightmares attacked. They destroyed every egg and basket. Nothing made it to the surface!"

Jack winced at that.

"Listen," he started to explain. "I - "

Tooth gasped as she saw the tooth case that Jack had forgotten about in his hands.

"Jack, where did you get that?"

Surprise warred with horror on her face as she realized the one place he could have gotten it from. Then she suddenly noticed his lack of companions.

"Where's Lillian and Baby Tooth?" she asked. "Oh, Jack.. What have you done?"

Jack's eyes widened as he stepped back from Tooth.

 _What?_

She wasn't even giving him a chance to explain!

"No, that's not.. It's not.. Listen!" Jack said desperately to the Guardians.

Bunny balled up a fist in anger as he glared heatedly at the winter spirit.

" _That's_ where ya were? Ya were with Pitch?!" Bunny shouted as he raised a fist in anger at Jack. "I knew we shouldn'ta trusted ya! I knew it! Ever since Pitch was whisperin' to ya about being _disappointed_ in ya! Ya were with _him_ the whole time!"

Tears filled Jack's eyes as Bunny tore down what little hope Jack had. He had been hoping the Guardians would believe him and help him rescue the little fairy and his best friend, but now that was all gone.

"..N..no.." Jack said as he wiped his eyes. "Listen! It's not like that! You.. you don't understand!"

Bunny continued to glare at Jack, but then put his fist down in disgust.

"Yer not one of us," he said to Jack. His anger seemed to fade as the hopelessness of the situation set in. "Easter is about hope, new beginnings.. And now.. now it's all gone."

Bunny shook his head at Jack and turned his back on him.

Jack looked at the other Guardians. Surely at least North would hear him out. But both North and Tooth turned their backs on Jack as well, rejecting him.

Tears spilled down Jack's cheeks as he realized his heroes weren't going to help him. No one was. He pulled the Russian nesting doll out of the pocket of his hoodie. He had hastily tucked it away when they had taken off what seemed like forever ago as they had rushed off to Tooth's Palace.

He stared down at the tiny wooden baby that had big eyes, filled with wonder. Jack clenched his fist over it for a second. He glanced at the Guardians with all their backs to him as they made their way over to the sleigh.

Jack sniffled and tossed the nesting doll down to the ground as his belief wavered. The dejected Guardians didn't notice the flickering blue light hurriedly making its way to Antarctica as they climbed into the sleigh. They had to figure out how to save themselves and help what was left of their believers. With the disaster that Easter had been, Hope was at the lowest it had ever been.

* * *

Jack made it to Antarctica in record time and landed roughly in the snow. Tears blurred his vision as he collapsed down on his hands and knees.

They didn't _believe_ him.

They thought he was in cahoots with Pitch, actually helping him hurt kids and their beliefs.

He sat up and wiped his eyes as the enormity of the situation hit him. All the Guardians were going to fade away and Lillian was gone..

He remembered her Giant Flower of Doom, but what little hope that sparked soon died. Gold glinting on the white snow soon drew his attention and he saw the tooth case twinkling up at him.

This was all the teeth's fault. He didn't deserve to have his memories back. Not after what had happened. He grabbed them up and carried them to the edge of the glacier. He took a deep, shuddering breath and prepared to throw them all away.

Why would he need memories anyway?

He didn't have anyone.

* * *

The Guardians were debating on what they should do next, as Bunny was worriedly checking out the globe. Almost all the lights had gone out with the spectacular failure that was Easter.

His ears went back as he watched light after light go out. Soon enough, there were only three lights left. He saw that a normal light was in Burgess, but growing dimmer. The other two..

He paused as he searched the globe for the blue lights. He almost missed the one that was near Burgess, as it was so dark. He tried to puzzle out why the light was mostly black with only a tiny pinprick of it being blue. What blue he could see was so very dim and he knew it was only a matter of time before the blue light died completely.

He looked for the other blue light and saw it was in Antarctica again and was flickering. It was so dim that he feared that this one too, would soon fade out. Grief temporarily overwhelmed him as his hope fled and he began to glow.

Tooth gasped as she looked at her fellow Guardian.

"B-Bunny?!" she cried out as she saw that he was actually _shrinking_.

Bunny blinked and looked up at Tooth at her exclamation.

Wait a minute..

Since when did she get so tall?

He looked around and realized that everything was so _big_.

Panic rising, he looked down at himself to realize he was now just a little fluffy Pooka kit and not the full grown Pooka that he was. He gave a soft whimper at that, but then his gaze was drawn back to the globe he had been studying.

He hopped up on top of a seat to it, valiantly ignoring that one good breeze might send him flying off the sleigh.

"The lights are almost gone," he said quietly to the others. "The blue ones are hurt the most. One's in.. Antarctica..."

Bunny's voice trailed off as he stared at the blue light in Antarctica. It was so very cold there. They just had a big argument with Jack Frost and the distraught winter spirit had flown off.

The blue light was in Antarctica.

Jack was the only being that could survive for long periods there.

Bunny realized with growing horror that Jack looked young as a spirit.

Not quite an adult.

If the blue light was Jack, then..

He stared at the mostly black light and closed his eyes in grief.

"Bloody hell," Bunny muttered to himself. "What have we done?"

* * *

Jack paused at the last second and pulled the hand holding the tooth case back. He looked down at his precious baby teeth and gave himself a disgusted sigh.

He couldn't do it.

He was startled when a voice spoke from right behind him.

"You know, I thought this might happen," Pitch said in a surprisingly sympathetic voice.

Jack whirled around, ready to blast Pitch into kingdom come with a huge burst of winter magic, but the sight of the small black figure next to Pitch made him pause.

 _Lillian._

She was clutching onto Pitch's black robes and blended in almost perfectly with Pitch. Her skin was completely gray now, like Pitch's and her spring green eyes and turned the same golden color that the eyes of the Nightmares' were. She was wearing her once favorite black dress, but this time the ribbon around the waist was golden, to match her eyes. She had another black cloak tied around her shoulders that was trimmed in black fur, making her look more regal somehow. The hood was up and Jack could see that her hair had turned completely black as well, as a few curls spilled out from the hood.

"What did you do to her?!" Jack cried out as he saw his once best friend.

Her eyes had once been so full of life and warmth and now they were cold and empty and so.. _lifeless_.

Pitch put an arm around little Lillian as she clung to him like a small child. Ever since her transformation she had been rather clingy to Pitch. Pitch, who was feeling just as clingy back didn't seem to mind. He seemed more relaxed with the young spring spirit around, although it bothered him that something didn't seem quite right about having her there.

His plans however, had quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.

"Me? Not a thing," Pitch smirked at Jack. "Through some chance however, she's become my Nightmare Princess. With her spring powers and her new affinity with the darkness, she can help me finish off the Guardians quite nicely, don't you think?"

Pitch stepped towards Jack as he put on a more sympathetic expression.

"Listen, Jack.. I know that you're hurting right now. Abandoned by the Guardians. You feel as if you have nothing left. You're afraid that you'll be all alone like you once were. A forgotten spirit with nothing to live for. Mindlessly spreading Winter, forever alone."

Pain filled Jack's eyes as Pitch spilled all his secret fears. Tears filled his eyes again and he wordlessly shook his head in denial.

"It's alright, Jack," Pitch said consolingly as he reached Jack and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I _understand_ what it's like to be all alone. After all, I was all alone for _centuries_ before Lillian came into my life."

Jack lifted his head and looked up at Pitch with tear filled eyes as he listened.

"But I can help you," Pitch went on. "If you join me, you won't ever have to be alone. We can be like as we were before.. just the three of us. A _family._ "

A family..

It was the one thing that Jack desperately wanted the most.

The one thing he never dared to hope for.

But he realized that he, Lillian and Pitch had been just that at one point.

He wiped his eyes and looked at the now dark Lillian, wondering if they could have that again.

Could he condemn the Guardians for it?

Jack swallowed as he thought about it.

"Wh..what would I have to do?" he asked Pitch in a trembling voice.

Pitch kept the sympathetic look on his face, but inwardly he was rejoicing. His plan was working perfectly!

"Why nothing, my boy," Pitch said. "Just close your eyes and let me help you. Soon all your distress will go away and we'll be together forever."

Jack looked at Pitch and Lillian as he thought about it.

Together forever..

He'd have someone to believe in again.

He'd have a family.

Jack thought of the Guardians, but they had turned all their backs on him.

If they didn't believe in him, why should he believe in them?

Ignoring the twinge of guilt, he nodded at Pitch.

"I trust you," he said to Pitch, his voice small. "I want.. I want a family. I want you and Lillian back.."

Baby Tooth, who had been tucked into Pitch's pocket as a bargaining chip in case Jack hadn't wanted to cooperate, struggled to get free. She tried tweeting frantically at Jack that it was all a trick, but even if she could be heard, Jack didn't understand hummingbird.

Jack closed his eyes as Pitch summoned forth several Nightmares.

"This might hurt a little," Pitch said. "Just hold still."

Pitch formed a small dagger out of the black sand and gently rolled up Jack's sleeve. Deciding a cut on the arm would be best, he gently sliced into Jack's skin.

Jack's arm jerked back and his eyes flew open in surprise.

"Wha?!" Jack exclaimed, startled.

He stared in horror at all the Nightmares around and tried backing away from Pitch.

"What are you doing?!" he cried out.

Pitch kept a firm grip on Jack's arm however and his eyes glinted with maliciousness.

"Making sure you never leave me again," Pitch said with a wicked grin.

A Nightmare dissipated into black sand and surged forward towards Jack.

Jack's grip on his tooth case slipped as the sand surged into Jack's wound. He gave a strangled cry at all the _evil_ he felt surging into him.

He would have fallen to his knees if Pitch hadn't been holding onto him.

"Now Jack," Pitch whispered to him. "You'll be my Nightmare Prince."

* * *

North struggled to control the sleigh as all of the three lights that were on the globe had so little belief left. Children's beliefs were what powered the sleigh and North's powers and he could feel his strength fading as he tried his best not to crash land in Burgess.

After Bunny had shared his revelations with the other two Guardians, they had decided that since two of the lights were either in or near Burgess, that they should head there. However on the way there, the mostly dark blue light near Burgess had suddenly appeared in Antarctica.

Fearing for Jack, they had debated turning around right there, but the last human light was flickering and almost out, so they had decided to press on. If they could at least get _one_ strong believer, then perhaps they would have enough power to help Jack and Lillian.

"The blue light in Antarctica is turnin' dark!" Bunny cried out as he sat near the globe on the sleigh.

"It must be Pitch!" North said in dismay. "He is doing something to Jack and Lillian!"

Bunny's ears went back as he stared at the darkening blue light. How could he have ever thought that Jack was helping Pitch?

Jack was in trouble and they _failed_ him.

As North crash landed in front of Jamie's house, Bunny watched as the golden light on the globe flickered violently between belief and disbelief.

By the time they managed to get out of the sleigh, the light was almost out.

As he hopped after North, he summoned all the hope he had left.

He hoped they weren't too late.

* * *

Author's Note: I know, I know! Cliffhanger. I'm evil, I know. I'm sorry. But it really did seem like a good stopping point. And yes, the Guardians are despicable. I hated that part in the movie. Also, as I was writing out this chapter, I remembered that I had read a rather dark fic where Pitch convinced Jack to join him. The Jack in my story was extra vulnerable, since he had some sort of almost friendship with the Guardians before they turned their backs on him, making him more vulnerable than ever to Pitch. So I decided mid-chapter to change things around. I have to admit, this really shook the story up and I'm not entirely sure where this is going to end up.. I guess we'll find out next chapter. :) I promise to update sometime on the weekend, so hopefully you guys can wait that long..

Now! Reviews!

I hope the reviewer that threatened to maim me will hold off on the threats now. Or.. not.. considering how cliffhangery this chapter is. Eheh.. whoops?

As to CrossoverJunkie, you win all the extra points for figuring out how Lillian was inadvertently infected by the black sand. And while I think the symbolism idea is awesome, I didn't really think of it that way. I really did just mean it as it was. I wish I could claim all the credit of thinking that much into it, but nope. Now that you mention it though, it really does sum up Pitch quite nicely. Jack and Lillian gave something to Pitch he hadn't had in years, so of course even if he is evil, some part of Pitch wants to hold them close. Of course, since he's not quite himself at the moment he doesn't think twice about them being just as evil as him.

As for future plot, a reviewer suggested that the infection kill Lillian, as it wouldn't be compatible with her. I guess the same would have to be said for Jack then. The shock of it would probably get Pitch to snap out of things, but I'm not sure I want to take the fic that far. I will definitely be thinking of this idea when I do write the next chapter though. Thanks for the input!

If any of you have any last minute plot requests, hurry up and get them out since I'm definitely writing the next chapter ASAP, as I'm just as eager as you to see how it's all going to end. Just remember, that even if the movie plot officially ends, that doesn't mean this story will! The story will continue on right where the movie leaves off, since there will still be a lot of things to sort out. And I guess if you didn't consider it before, this story is most definitely AU now as it veered so far away from the movie. I also need drabble ideas, since I have so few. Anyway, I look forward to your input and please don't yell at me too much. Remember, with the end of the movie plot, brings Sandy! So expect him next chapter at some point. Also lots of angst. And I knooow that I screwed up Jamie believing in Jack. I have a lot to figure out!


	22. Chapter 22: I Do Believe

Author's Note: I felt so bad about leaving you guys hanging, I just HAD to write out the chapter. Um.. unfortunately, the movie didn't end on this one either.. Whoops? I'm giving up on saying when it's ending, since whenever I start writing, the chapters just get longer without my permission and things happen that I wasn't planning on. The good news is that it draws the story out a bit and gives you interesting little tidbits that might not have happened otherwise. The bad news is that you get cliffhangers instead, when I decide the chapter is long enough. Sorry?

Anyway, I was really excited by the plot ideas you guys gave me! You really think of things that I haven't thought about. CrossoverJunkie, I just HAD to implement one of your ideas into this chapter. I figure it can come back later in a drabble. So consider this.. kinda getting things started for that drabble later on. I'm still considering exactly what's going to happen with Lillian and Jack, so any more ideas on that front are much appreciated.

Chapter Twenty-Two: I Do Believe

Bunny started to hop after North once they got out of the sleigh, but he didn't realize how drained they all were. North grabbed his back as if it had gone out and he had to use one of his swords like a cane.

"Ah.." North said, looking pained. "Is official. My powers are kaput."

Tooth had tried flying like she usually did, but only managed to go barely a foot before she fell abruptly to the ground.

"We gotta get to that kid!" Bunny said determinedly, and as he hopped as fast as he could to Jamie's front door.

He was the first to reach it, but he was too small to do anything. Huffing with irritation, Bunny tapped his foot on the ground but much to his dismay, nothing happened.

His heart clenched at that.

Until they got more kids to believe in them, he couldn't go home.

His poor googies! All alone with no one to look after them except for the stone golems!

Bunny stared mournfully at the door for a moment, but Tooth, having recovered from her fall had helped North up to the door.

Tooth looked a little awkward, as did North. They usually didn't barge into a child's house via the front door. It just wasn't done.

Bunny looked back at them to see their hesitant faces and he rolled his eyes.

"What are ya waitin' for?! Bust that door down! We ain't got the time!"

Spurred into action by Bunny's scolding, the remaining Guardians started trying to break into Jamie's house.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jamie was upstairs in his room, sitting on his bed in his pajamas. He was staring at his old stuffed bunny that he was growing too big for, but hadn't quite outgrown yet.

"Look," Jamie said almost desperately to the bunny. "I've believed in you for a long, long time.. My whole life, in fact. So you kinda owe me."

Jamie gently shook the bunny.

"Just give me a sign. It doesn't have to be anything big. Just anything, really." he said as he stared intently at the bunny.

He waited a moment, but nothing happened.

"I knew it.." he said, looking crushed.

He let his bunny drop to the ground.

* * *

"No!" Bunny said with horror. "Nonono!"

He could sense the hope, the _belief_ that was dying. If the Guardians had bothered to check out the globe on North's sleigh, they could see that the lone golden light on it was fading out and nearly gone.

North finally backed up and with a loud cry (and Tooth's help) the front door burst open as they rushed at it.

Not pausing to see if Jamie's mom noticed the commotion, all the Guardians bolted for the stairs. (Or in North's case, quickly limped.)

Bunny, seeing that the door was finally open, was a little gray blur as he dashed under North's and Tooth's legs and ran upstairs. He wasn't sure which room was Jamie's, but he didn't need to know. He could sense where the dying hope was coming from.

Jamie was in his room, looking completely crushed when he heard a commotion downstairs. He was just about to say the words to himself, the words that would doom the entire world.

A tiny little part of him that still wanted to believe thought that _maybe_..

He shook his head as he looked at his door.

No.

It couldn't be.

There was no such thing as -

"WAIT!" a voice with an Australian accent cried out.

Jamie's door, which had been partially open suddenly slammed against the wall as something forced it open.

Jamie stared at it in confusion as he didn't see anything actually open the door.

"Uh.."

There was a heavy sigh and then a voice said near the ground.

"Down here, mate."

Jamie looked down and was startled to see a small, fluffy bunny.

"Um.. Did you just talk?" Jamie asked the bunny, feeling sort of silly.

Bunny rolled his eyes, but he had a grin tugging at his lips.

They made it!

"'Course I did. I'm the Easter Bunny." Bunny told Jamie, whose mouth dropped open in surprise.

"The Easter Bunny!" Jamie exclaimed as North and Tooth finally made it in the room.

"But he's supposed to be cool, and.. tall. Not _cute_."

Everybody noticed the note of disappointment in Jamie's voice.

Bunny groaned.

"Where were you a few hours ago?"

Jamie shrugged at this.

"There weren't any eggs this year."

North decided now would be a good time to speak up.

"That is because that Pitch Black, the Boogeyman, destroyed all of Bunny's eggs. It was catastrophe."

Jamie gaped as he suddenly noticed that _Santa_ and the _Tooth Fairy_ were in his room as well.

"It.. it wasn't a dream," he said faintly. "You.. you were all here!"

Tooth nodded and gave Jamie a gentle smile.

"Wait.." Jamie said as he looked at them in confusion. "Why are you all here? And where's the Sandman?"

North rubbed the back of his neck.

"That is.. part of the reason we are here."

The Guardians glanced at each other, wondering just how much they should tell the child. He was after all, just a child, and they didn't want to frighten him.

Bunny saw that North and Tooth were hesitant, and was tempted to roll his eyes again. They _really_ didn't have any time to be delicate. The kid was tough, he could handle it.

"We're here 'cuz almost all the belief in the world is gone," Bunny said, trying to sound more gentle, even though his words were anything but. "You are the only human child left who believes in us."

Jamie's eyes widened at this.

"Me?"

Bunny nodded.

"Pitch, the Boogeyman, has been doing his best to get rid of us by stopping us from doing our jobs, which get kids to believe in us."

Jamie looked thoughtful at this, as he thought about it logically.

"So.. if Pitch wants all the kids to stop believing in you, and.."

Jamie's voice trailed off as his eyes widened.

"Y-you think he'll come here?!" he squeaked in fear. "After me?!"

"That ain't all mate," Bunny said with resignation. "We think he's either holding a couple spirits hostage or has 'em on his side somehow. If it's the latter, we're in a whole heap of trouble."

"Bunny!" Tooth hissed as she noticed that Jamie looked more frightened at this.

But then what Bunny said sunk in.

"More spirits?" Jamie asked. "I thought there was just you guys."

North chuckled at this.

"No, there are hundreds of spirits! We are the Guardians however, and have dedicated our lives to protecting children, Naughty or Nice."

"Oh," Jamie said as he blinked. "So who are the two that you were talking about?"

"Well - " Bunny started, but the sound of whinnying outside caught their attention.

The Guardians winced at this.

"Pitch," North said.

Bunny looked down at his small self and then at Jamie, who was looking worried. Jamie believed in all of them again and his light should be shining brightly, but they were still just as powerless as before.

 _It wasn't enough._

Bunny's ears went back as he realized this. Pitch was probably waiting outside for them with who knows how many Nightmares, and maybe even Jack and Lillian and they didn't have enough power.

He snuck another look at Jamie and hardened his resolve. He squared his little shoulders and brought his ears back up. He was a Pooka warrior. He would fight to the last if he had to.

He opened his mouth to say just that, when a thought occurred to him. Jamie believed in them, but his belief and what little there was of the blue lights wasn't enough. In that case..

"We need ta get yer friends," Bunny burst out suddenly.

"Wha?" Jamie asked, confused as ever. "But.. Pitch?"

North looked down at Bunny.

"We cannot fight, Bunny. We are not strong enough."

Bunny just smirked at the other two Guardians.

"Then we'll just have ta sneak out the back."

A few moments later, North, Tooth, Bunny and Jamie, who was now wearing his vest over his pajamas and his shoes quietly went out the back.

Jamie's mom, who had been awake and wondering what in the world was going on with the front door, never noticed her son sneaking out behind her back.

The back door quietly clicked closed behind them and Jamie whispered to the Guardians where the rest of his friends lived.

"But.. how are we going to get them to believe?" Jamie asked. "I was trying to tell them that the Easter Bunny existed, but they didn't believe me. They didn't believe me about meeting you guys either!"

The Guardians looked an one another again, not having thought of this complication.

* * *

Out in front of Jamie's house, Pitch stood with hundreds of Nightmares surrounding him, Jack and Lillian. While Lillian's transformation had been slower, Jack's was much faster since he had gotten a lot more of the black sand into his system.

Pitch was a little relieved that Jack transformed more quickly, since it made him feel odd to hear little Lillian begging and pleading with him to let her go. That had ended once she finally transformed, but he really hadn't been looking forward to going through that with Jack.

Pitch glanced at Jack who stood near him, on the opposite side of him with Lillian. Jack was still wearing his blue hoodie since he had refused to wear the black one Pitch had offered him, and his ragged brown pants. Jack's skin, which had once been pale as snow, was now just as gray as Pitch's and Lillian's. His eyes, which once were a clear crystal blue, were now a golden color. All the fun and amusement that was normally apparent in them was gone, and his hair which had been white was now a pitch black.

Jack still clutched his staff, but instead of holding it close to himself like a teddy bear like he usually did, he was holding it loosely at his side. He glanced at Pitch, who was smirking evilly at Jamie's wide open front door.

Jamie's mom looked outside to see if there was anyone around, as she completely missed Jack, Lillian and all the Nightmares out front. She did however, spot Pitch.

"Oh hello!" Jamie's mom smiled at Pitch. It was late enough for it to be dark out, but it wasn't really very late just yet.

Pitch, who had been about to monologue with Jack and Lillian, paused as his golden eyes went wide.

"Wh-what?" he stuttered.

 _Nobody_ believed in him.

Not children, and certainly not adults.

"You aren't lost, are you? I don't think I've seen you around before." Jamie's mom said, looking a little concerned at Pitch, who was just standing there.

Pitch looked irritated at this.

He was Pitch Black! He didn't get lost! He even had a whole army of Nightmares at his command _right there_ and the blasted woman wasn't even frightened of him!

Then Pitch exhaled and forced himself to calm down. Perhaps this could work in his favor.

He could deal with this.

He casually strolled across the street after discreetly detaching himself from Lillian. Lillian, who looked confused at the turn of events, went over by Jack.

"What's happening?" she whispered to Jack.

She was much quieter than before, but she still spoke to Jack at least. Pitch unfortunately, was still a little busy with world domination to have conversations with her.

"I don't know," Jack said as he eyed the woman with suspicion. "Why don't we just freeze her? She's getting in Pitch's way."

Lillian shrugged as Pitch made it up by Jamie's mom.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression," Pitch said in his usual elegant tone as he addressed the soon-to-be hostage.

Unknown to him however, was the fact that Jamie with the Guardians, had already snuck out the back door.

"But I am not lost." Pitch put on a fake put upon look. "But my vehicle seems to have broken down a few streets over. Nobody seemed to want to help me.." he sighed wearily.

"That's terrible!" Jamie's mom said. "Have you called a tow truck?"

Pitch mournfully shook his head.

"If I could use your phone?" he asked, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.

It was difficult, but Pitch wasn't a good actor for nothing. He was the master of manipulation and hiding his true emotions. Even when he wasn't quite so evil, he could still effectively mask his emotions if he wanted to.

"Oh, of course! Come in, Mr..?" Jamie's mom asked as she stepped aside to let Pitch in.

"Pitch," Pitch said.

"Mr. Pitch," Jamie's mom said in a warm, friendly voice. "The phone's right here in the kitchen."

The front door closed as Jamie's mom began to lead Pitch over to the kitchen phone.

Jack and Lillian looked at one another.

This wasn't in the plan.

* * *

Jamie eyed Pippa's window. They had all snuck over to her house while Pitch was distracted. Unfortunately Like Jamie's, her room was on the second floor.

"So.. how are we going to do this?" Jamie asked.

Then he looked at the Guardians.

"Wait.. How did you guys get into MY house?"

The Guardians looked very sheepish at this.

"It was an emergency!" Bunny said defensively.

"We.. ah.." North looked very awkward. "We use front door."

Jamie blinked.

"But.. the door was locked."

Tooth gave Jamie a small smile.

"Whoops?" was all she had to offer.

Jamie face palmed at this.

"You guys busted in my front door?!"

Meanwhile, Pippa was woken up from a nightmare by the sound of arguing. She shivered as she looked at her window.

Lately she had been having terrible dreams about a man in all black, who taunted her. He often brought out all sorts of horrible things that had frightened her since she was very small.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as one of the voices sounded familiar to her. Getting up from bed, she wandered over to her window and looked outside.

She was astounded to see Jamie Bennet standing there, apparently arguing with.. himself? _What?_

She opened her window and called down to him.

"Jamie, what are you _doing?_ " Pippa asked in exasperation. "My parents will hear you!"

Jamie paused in mid-arguing with the Guardians about how to break into Pippa's house and he turned to Pippa's window with a deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Now ya done it," Bunny said with a sigh.

Jamie blushed a bit.

"Um.. Hi?" he said helpfully.

Pippa rolled her eyes.

"Hi? That's it?"

Jamie looked around desperately. If only they had some way of showing her that the Guardians were real!

He paused when he spotted Bunny holding one of the only unbroken eggs. It was unpainted, as Bunny hadn't had time to finish it when the Guardians had all made their mad dash to the surface.

Bunny had painted a few swirls on the egg, as painting helped him think. And boy, did he need to think.

"That's it!" Jamie said as he lunged at Bunny.

"What's it?!" Pippa shouted at him. "Jamie! What are you doing?!"

It looked to her like Jamie was lunging at thin air and talking to himself again.

Jamie grabbed Bunny's egg and threw it at Pippa.

Startled, Pippa caught it. She stared down at the mostly white egg, with Eastery pink swirls on it.

"Wha..? Where did you get this?" Pippa looked down at Jamie, confused.

"The Easter Bunny," Jamie said patiently. "It's the only egg that he was able to get out this year."

Pippa looked down at the partially painted egg, then back at Jamie. Jamie had convinced his friends to wander around for a few hours, looking for eggs. They had all gone with Jamie out of loyalty to him, not that they believed in the Easter Bunny or anything.

But Jamie was out there in his _pajamas_. Where had he gotten this egg? She looked at Jamie, who seemed to be talking to himself again. But _was_ he talking to himself?

"Pippa!" Jamie called out desperately. "He really is real! He needs our help! ALL the Guardians do! Santa and the Tooth Fairy! You HAVE to believe!"

Pippa looked back down at the egg again. The swirls were so delicate and fine. The only eggs she ever saw like that were the ones she gathered with her friends on Easter. She hugged the egg close to her chest as she realized.. She wanted to _believe_.

She wanted some goodness out there that would fight away all this darkness that surrounded her. She closed her eyes as she fought with herself.

She knew logically that there wasn't any such thing as a giant pink bunny that hid eggs all over the world.

But..

That didn't explain all the eggs she found every year.

That didn't explain the egg she was holding right now.

" _Please_ Pippa! We NEED you! HE needs you!" Jamie called out.

She opened her eyes back up and looked down at the egg.

A lightness filled her heart and she felt so much better than she had in days.

"I.." a small smile appeared on her face. "I do believe."

Bunny's eyes widened as he felt the surge of power.

Another believer!

He looked up at the window to see Pippa was still looking down at the egg happily.

"Come on, lass! We gotta get to yer friends!"

Pippa looked back out her window, startled to hear the voice with the Australian accent. She looked very startled to see a small gray bunny, a big man in red and a.. bird woman..?

She laughed happily as she came to the sudden realization.

"Santa! The Tooth Fairy! The Easter Bunny!" she said gleefully. "You're all real! Jamie was right!"

"Come on!" Jamie said happily, but somewhat impatiently. "We have to get the others to believe too! Make sure you keep that egg!"

Pippa nodded and dashed back into her room. A few moments later, her front door opened and she ran out to them.

She had thrown her jacket on over her nightgown and had tucked the Easter egg inside a pocket.

"What's going on?" she asked curiously. "Why are you all here?"

Jamie took a hold of Pippa's hand.

"There's no time to explain! The Guardians need more kids to believe in them so they can kick The Boogeyman's butt."

"The _Boogey -_ " Pippa exclaimed as Jamie tugged her off to Caleb and Claude's house.

* * *

Lillian and Jack stood outside, shifting from foot to foot as Pitch was inside with Jamie's mom.

Jamie's mom, whose name turned out to be Lauren, was sitting down at the kitchen table with Pitch.

They each had a steaming mug of tea, while they waited for the tow truck. Pitch dipped his tea bag into his cup as he eyed it, to see if it was strong enough for him yet.

Lauren, as she had introduced herself shortly after showing him the phone was happy to discuss her concerns about her children, after discovering that Pitch had a couple of his own.

Finding himself unable to extricate himself from the situation, Pitch instead found himself joining in on the conversation as he discussed Lillian, and to some extent, Jack.

"I really don't know what to do with her," Pitch said with a slight frown. "She's recently been through an.. illness.. and now she's so distant. She's nothing like how she used to be. Her brother seems to be suffering from the same thing," Pitch said as he sipped his tea.

"How old are they?" Lauren asked curiously.

Pitch looked uncomfortable for a moment, before he smoothly hid that way.

"Lillian is six, while her older brother Jack is.. 16 or so," Pitch said as he wrongly guessed Jack's age. He really had no idea how old either of them were, as they themselves didn't know.

Lauren smiled at that.

"Naturally Jack wouldn't be so open with you. I hear teenagers are difficult to manage. And it sounds like Lillian's still recovering from being sick. I'm sure she'll bounce right back once she's completely well."

Pitch nodded, although some part of him felt very guilty at that.

They would never recover.

There was no getting well.

He had wanted both Lillian and Jack near, but it wasn't like it was before.

Something was so very wrong with all of this, but he didn't know how to fix it.

He shifted in his chair as he thought of what to do now. They were still outside with all of his Nightmares, while the one last human child who believed was upstairs in his room.

He lowered his gaze to his tea cup and Lauren reached across the table to pat his hand comfortingly.

He tightened his grip on his cup as he thought of what his next move should be.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope that the scene with Pippa was believable. I was really struggling with figuring out how to get the kids to believe without Jack's help. There weren't any of Tooth's fairies around, Santa had no toys on him.. So I went with Bunny. He doesn't get to do much in the movie when he's little, so I thought it was his time to shine. Bunny gets painted as the bad guy a lot in the movie, since he has a terrible temper, so I thought it was about time he started doing more positive things. In the movie, Bunny seems to whip an egg out of nowhere and start painting it in North's workshop, so I decided he can do this whenever he wants, this his having the egg and a paint brush randomly.

As for Pitch drinking tea with Jamie's mom. CrossoverJunkie mentioned this as a drabble idea in a review, and the opportunity was there.. So. Pitch really was going to use Jamie's mom as a tool to torture Jamie with (his mom threatened by the Boogeyman, without realizing who Pitch actually was), but then she was being so _nice_ to him and it threw him off his game, since _nobody_ is nice to him. Then he found himself babbling about Jack and Lillian and now he can't seem to find a way to get out of the kitchen. It seemed like a good stopping place, since the chapter was already over 3000 words and I don't like the chapters to be _too_ long. Expect more exciting things to come in the next chapter.

Also, sorry for the lack of Sandy. :( He'll be back soon, I promise!

EDIT: Also, I made up Jamie's mom's name. I'm sorry if she has an actual name, I just went with something off the top of my head.


	23. Chapter 23: The Power of Belief

Author's Note: Thanks to all the faves, follows and things! I like all the plot suggestions. :) To the reviewer who told me Pitch needs to die though: Not. Going. To. Happen. If you don't like Pitch, this story is definitely not for you. Thanks to all the reviewers who patiently (or not so patiently) waited for this chapter to come out. It is action packed, so I hope you like it.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Power of Belief

While Pitch was stuck in Mrs. Bennett's kitchen, Jamie, Pippa and the Guardians were busy gathering all of Jamie's friends. Thanks to Jamie's quick thinking with Bunny's unfinished Easter Egg and a _lot_ of explaining on Jamie's and Pippa's part, Jamie's friends were convinced to believe, one by one.

Cupcake was the last and hardest to convince. Pitch's nightmares had hit her hardest of all, but finally they were able to convince her. She had smiled up at the Guardians once she was finally able to see them. She had given Bunny a onceover and declared that he was no unicorn, but he'd do.

A little disgruntled at being compared to a unicorn, Bunny had huffed but didn't respond to the girl. They'd all carefully snuck back over by Jamie's house, the Guardians with the children in tow. They had tried to convince the kids that it would be dangerous, but the children had insisted on coming and the Guardians didn't really have the time to argue with them.

They paused once they reached the front of Jamie's house, as Jack, Lillian and all the Nightmares were still gathered out front. The children gaped at all the Nightmares they could now see, but they couldn't see the Winter or Spring spirit.

The Guardians gave each other significant glances.

"What are we gonna do about Jack and Lillian?" Bunny asked the others.

"Who's Jack and Lillian?" Jamie asked with interest.

The Guardians all sighed at that.

"Remember when we told ya that there were hundreds of other spirits out there?" Bunny asked Jamie.

Jamie nodded, and his friends looked stunned at the news. _Hundreds?_

"Well, there's a teenage spirit out there who's the spirit of Winter. He spreads snow in the winter time, but Pitch's corrupted him."

Jamie furrowed his brow.

"Wait.. Winter.." he said as he thought hard. Then his eyes lit up as he got it. "Jack Frost! My mom said he nips at your nose. He's the Winter Spirit, isn't he?"

Bunny nodded and Jamie gasped as he could finally see Jack. With his gray skin and black hair, Jack looked so.. _dark._

"Whoa.." Jamie muttered as he stared at Jack.

"What is it Jamie?" Pippa asked.

Jamie gestured at Jack.

"It's Jack Frost, he's the spirit of winter." Jamie explained.

Jamie's friends looked over, eager to see another spirit. Before, they had always been skeptical about anything Jamie believed in, but now that they could see the Guardians, they were more apt to believe.

There were gasps as Jack suddenly became visible.

"That's not all," Bunny said. "There's also a little lass with him. Her name is Lillian, and she's the spirit of spring. She's pretty young for a spirit."

Bunny sighed.

"She's usually pretty perky, but Pitch has corrupted her too. They're both powerful seasonal spirits, and with them on Pitch's side, there's no telling what sorts of trouble there's going to be."

Jamie squinted. A spring spirit? He looked at Jack, then around at the nightmares. He just _knew_ that Bunny was telling the truth and he believed that there was a spring spirit. As soon as this line of thought hit him, Lillian suddenly came into view.

He gasped at the sight of the little girl with gray skin and black hair. She looked so.. so.. _young._ She wasn't as young as Sophie, but she was certainly younger than Jamie.

"What can we do?" Jamie asked the Guardians. "How can we help them?"

North was the one to speak this time.

"Is just it," he said sadly. "We don't know. We must get them away from Nightmares and to North Pole. There, we can figure out how to bring them back to their former selves. And away from cities and people, their powers wouldn't hurt anyone."

Jamie nodded at this.

"Then you need to get them to come after you and move away from the horses, right?" he asked.

"Right," Bunny said, getting a bad feeling. If it had been North, he would've said it was a feeling in his belly.

"Okay," Jamie said, taking a deep breath. He gave his friends a look, who could by now all see Lillian as well, and stepped out of their hiding spot near an alley.

Tooth gasped.

"What are you doing?!" she whisper-yelled at Jamie.

Jamie turned back and grinned at the Guardians.

"Helping," he said innocently. Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

"Hey Jack Frost! And Lillian!" he shouted.

Jack blinked and looked around. Lillian looked around as well.

"Did someone call us?" Lillian asked Jack quietly.

"I.. I don't know," Jack said as he looked uneasy.

"Do you think it was Pitch?" Lillian asked Jack.

"No.. It sounded younger," Jack replied. But nobody could see him or Lillian, so who would know their names?

"Jaaack!" Jamie called out. "Lillian!"

"I could check it out," Lillian offered.. "I'm small and nobody would notice me," she said.

What she didn't say was that without Pitch around, she felt extremely uneasy and antsy to move around.. She didn't like that Pitch was gone so long inside that house. What was he doing in there anyway?

Jack looked down at Lillian. Even though they both were filled with darkness now, he was still protective of his friend.

"Don't be too long," Jack said. "And if you run into trouble, yell. Maybe you should take a couple Nightmares with you."

Lillian nodded and gestured at a few of the black horses. They ambled over by her easily enough and she looked at them sternly.

"Follow me," she ordered them, "and don't cause any trouble."

The Nightmares looked at each other and snorted. Trouble was their middle name.

Lillian nodded at them and then walked off towards where she had heard the voice calling.

The Guardians gaped at Jamie, then at Lillian that was walking over to them, with a few Nightmares in tow.

"It worked?" Bunny said softly to the others.

"Da," North said with a chuckle. "Why didn't we think of that?"

Bunny went to take out his boomerangs, but they were bigger than his whole body. He looked at the one boomerang he managed to sort of hold sheepishly.

"Here, let me," Tooth said as she picked up the boomerang.

Bunny took a moment to collect himself, then laid out his plan.

"Alrigh'," he said to Tooth. "Ya take out the Nightmares when they get close and North, ya grab Lillian before she can get a chance to use her spring powers. Then with any luck, we can do the same ta Jack when he comes over ta see what's goin' on. With any luck, we can get 'em out of here before Pitch realizes what's happenin.'"

Lillian glanced back at her Nightmare companions. She didn't want to say anything to Jack, but she was feeling a little strange. It was as they were standing there, waiting for Pitch that she had felt it. She glanced down at her bracelet, which had turned as pitch black as her hair. She made it glow briefly. No.. it wasn't that.

It almost felt like.. some sort of surge of power. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to in front of her. Eventually she spotted Jamie, who was looking right at her.

She paused at this. Nobody ever looked right at her. At least not outside of Halloween.

Jamie smiled at Lillian.

"You're Lillian, right?" Jamie asked.

Lillian gasped and took a step backwards.

"Wh-what?!" she exclaimed.

"The Spirit of Spring, right?" Jamie continued.

Lillian's eyes widened. A kid knew who she was and could see her?!

Before she could even blink, a boomerang sailed out from the nearby alley and destroyed one of the Nightmares.

Lillian flinched and moved away, as if afraid that a boomerang was going to hit her next.

Her bracelet began to glow as she summoned her spring powers. She knew that boomerang. The Guardians were nearby.

"JACK!" Lillian cried out as another boomerang narrowly missed the second Nightmare.

"Crikey, this is not goin' well," Bunny muttered as Tooth caught one of his boomerangs. As she got ready for another throw, the temperature suddenly dropped drastically.

Clouds gathered overhead, and not a second later, Jack was standing by Lillian, looking down at her worriedly.

"You ok?" He asked her as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Lillian pointed at Jamie, who gulped.

"He can see me," Lillian said, completely unaware that Jamie could see Jack too.

"And then a boomerang destroyed a Nightmare," she said in a hushed voice.

"The Guardians," Jack spat as he raised his staff in Jamie's direction. "Alright, come on out!"

Jack's voice sounded so different now. It was so much colder and it didn't have any of the warmth that it did before.

Reluctantly, the Guardians stepped out from the alley they were hiding in to stand in front of Jamie and the other kids. The kids however, weren't having any of it and stubbornly stood in front of the Guardians.

Jack looked at the Guardians with his cold, golden eyes.

"You came to get Pitch, didn't you," Jack said and Bunny thought he heard an accusing tone in Jack's cold voice.

"No, we came for _you_ ," North said. "Both you and Lillian. Pitch has corrupted you both somehow and we wish to help you."

Lillian scooted closer to Jack at that as her bracelet stopped glowing.

"Pitch takes care of us," she said to the Guardians as the kids' eyes widened at that.

"He's usin' ya!" Bunny said angrily. "He only wants ya for ya powers. If you didn't have any, then he wouldn't give ya the time of day!"

Lillian covered her ears, looking upset.

"You're lying!" she shouted at Bunny.

Jack frowned as he saw that they were upsetting his friend.

"That's enough," he said as he held his staff out to them. The temperature dropped a few more degrees and the kids began to shiver. Most of them had thrown coats over their pajamas and haphazardly thrown shoes on.

"No, that's _not_ enough!" Bunny growled at Jack, forgetting that he was only a tiny Pooka at the moment. "Let us help ya!"

"I don't need help!" Jack yelled suddenly at Bunny as it began to snow. "WE don't need help. Leave us alone!"

The second Nightmare, which had yet to be destroyed ran suddenly at the kids and the Guardians, ready for attack.

Tooth gasped and threw a boomerang, but she wasn't Bunny and she missed badly.

Jamie flung his arms up, as he was right in the path of the Nightmare, but instead of being hurt, the Nightmare turned into golden sand.

"Wow!" all the kids exclaimed as they saw the wonder in the golden sand.

Lillian stared at the golden sand. She knew that sand. A look of wonder appeared on her face and she moved towards the sand.

Jack's hand flashed out and he grabbed Lillian's shoulder.

"Don't touch it," Jack warned. "It's probably a trick."

Lillian's expression faded back into its cold demeanor, but the Guardians for just an instant, had seen the old Lillian shining through.

Jamie looked at his hands in wonder then grinned at Jack and Lillian.

"Let's get 'em!" he declared and ran right towards them.

"Yeah!" the other kids cried as they ran at the two spirits.

Lillian stepped back, looking frightened. Forgetting for a moment that she was a spirit who was older than all those kids, she pulled away from Jack and went to run away.

Jamie used all his snowball fighting prowess and tackled Lillian down to the ground. He placed his hands on her cheeks as he used his knees to pin her down.

"I hope this works," he muttered.

Lillian screamed as she felt a strange power flow through her. She flailed around, but Jamie had too firm of a hold on her.

Jack's eyes flashed at Lillian's scream, and he went to aim his staff at Jamie. Unfortunately, Tooth had taken the opportunity to throw another boomerang at Jack and Jack was forced to dodge.

He quickly iced the ground a few kids fell over on their way to attack him.

"J-Jack..!" Lillian cried out. The strange power was hurting her and she didn't like it. Her black hair started to lighten a little and her golden eyes started to take on a green tint.

Jack glanced at Lillian, and that moment cost him. Before he could do anything, a large pair of hands grabbed hold of him, pinning his arms at his sides.

"Now!" North cried as he held Jack from behind in a sort of hug.

The remaining kids went to Jack and placed their hands on him.

As pain burst in Jack's head, he cried out and felt afraid.

 _I wish Pitch was here!_

* * *

Pitch froze as he had been about to take another sip of tea. He could feel that someone was destroying his Nightmares and something felt off.

Before he could think of what was happening, Jack's fear rang out to him.

 _I wish Pitch was here!_

Hastily, Pitch stood as he thanked Mrs. Bennett for the tea and explained he just remembered somewhere that he had to be. Before Mrs. Bennett could protest, Pitch was out the door, no longer feeling trapped in the kitchen.

As Pitch rushed outside, he was astonished to see a bunch of his Nightmares milling around, and no Jack and Lillian.

Before he could start looking for them however, he hear their screams. His hands clenched into fists and he beckoned to all the remaining Nightmares.

"This way!" he commanded as they descended into the shadows.

* * *

Tooth wrung her hands as she looked at Jack and Lillian.

"They're hurting!" she said worriedly. "Maybe we should stop."

North shook his head at her.

"The darkness is fighting the belief of the children! I think will hurt until they are healed."

Tears fell down Lillian's cheeks as she struggled against Jamie.

"Stop! Stop it!" she cried out.

Jamie looked pained at her crying, but he kept a firm hold.

Bunny watched everything, feeling helpeless.

"This is takin' too long!" he said. "We hafta get 'em to the Pole! Manny could help 'em better!"

"They're too powerful for us to transport!" Tooth said. "Jack will freeze us before we get the chance!"

"Oh fer cryin' out loud," Bunny muttered. "North's got 'em in a bear hold! Just take his staff away!"

Tooth cautiously approached Jack, who was struggling for all he was worth. With his arms pinned at his sides like that, he didn't seem capable of controlling his powers.

Tooth grabbed Jack's staff and tugged. Jack's eyes widened through the pain and he tightened his grip on the staff.

"It'll be ok Jack," Tooth reassured him. "We aren't going to hurt you."

As she tugged more at the staff, suddenly Pitch and his army of Nightmares burst out of the shadows in the alleyway. He took one look at the scene and his eyes darkened in anger.

"How DARE you harm them!" he said, glowering at the Guardians and the children.

" _You're_ the one who - " Bunny started, then eeped and leaped into Tooth's arms as Pitch directed the Nightmares to attack.

"Cupcake, Monty!" Jamie cried out. "Get the horses!"

The two detached themselves from Jack and set about turning as many Nightmares into golden sand as they could, but there were too many of them.

More of the kids let go of Jack, and Jack's screams stopped as the strange power was no longer trying to fight the darkness. His hair, which had steadily been lightening, began to grow darker again. Bunny had leapt from Tooth's arms as she resumed trying to get Jack's staff.

Pitch stalked towards Tooth, his eyes flashing in anger. Tooth however, found her hands full as soon as she had wrenched Jack's staff from his hands, a few Nightmares attacked her.

She found herself in a tug of war with a Nightmare as it had grabbed one end of the staff in its mouth. She tugged harder on her end, when there was the sound of splintering wood.

"Oh!" she said, as she prepared to let go, but the Nightmare gave an almighty tug and to everyone's horror, the staff broke jaggedly into two pieces.

Jack let out a terrible scream as soon as the staff was broken and he went limp in North's arms.

"You DARE - " Pitch started, but Jamie had finally leapt up from Lillian to help out the other kids. As he looked at all the golden sand, an idea began to form.

"Come on!" he said to the other kids as he pulled them away to where the golden sand was gathering into a big cloud.

Lillian lay on the ground, feeling dazed. That awful feeling was leaving her, but she still felt strange. The ends of her hair were almost brown, and her eyes had green swirling in with the gold. Now with Jamie gone, her hair was darkening again and her eyes were becoming more gold.

Incensed, Pitch formed his black scythe out of the black sand and went to swing at Tooth.

"You _broke_ him," Pitch said in a dangerous tone to her. "I'll END you!"

Before the scythe could reach her however, a golden tendril shot out and grabbed Pitch's wrist.

Pitch stared at it in horror and suddenly he was flung up high into the air. As he came back down Sandy gave him an uppercut. When Pitch landed on the ground, a golden dream was swirling over his head.

Sandy looked at the image of a golden Pitch hanging out with two golden spirits and then looked over at the two very battered spirits, recovering from the kids' attack.

Jack appeared to be almost unconscious, with his broken staff laying at his feet.

Sandy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the Guardians, as if demanding an explanation.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry again for the sort of cliffhanger, but it seemed like a good stopping place. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I also found it amusing that Pitch was trapped in Mrs. Bennett's kitchen, then stuff went down and he's out of there in less than a minute. I like how the kids are taking a more active role in this as well. And the Guardians, even though they're not at full strength. Yes they're weak, but they aren't completely helpless. And they will be getting their powers back soon. I haven't forgotten about it. If you have any more ideas about how Jack and LIllian get healed, I'm open to suggestions. I have a few ideas, but you guys tend to think of things I haven't. I won't say when te next chapter will be out as I've been super busy lately (thus why this chapter took so long). Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter!

EDIT: Fixed some typos and a plot hole!


	24. Chapter 24: Manny to the Rescue

Author's Note: I'm SO SO SO sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long. I have no excuse. But just remember that I will NEVER abandon this fic. I was thinking about it guiltily the whole time. I was very busy, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, I will continue to be super busy, but I should be able to update again by next weekend. Anyway, enough of my rambling and on with the chapter! You've waited long enough!

Chapter Twenty-Four: Manny to the Rescue

Sandy looked at the Guardians pointedly and tapped his foot for emphasis. The Guardians hastily began to talk over one another in explanation, after they got over their shock of Sandy actually being _alive_.

While the Guardians were explaining, Lillian opened her eyes. Her hair had gone back to being completely black and her complexion was a gray as ever.

She slowly sat up and shook her head a little. Her gaze was at first drawn over towards Pitch, who had a golden dream hovering over his head. A golden dream.. But only one person could do that, and he.. he was..

A burst of golden symbols appeared over Sandy's head and that drew Lillian's eyes to him. She stared at him for almost a minute before she registered what she was seeing. A huge grin lit up her face as she leapt to her feet.

"SANDY!" she shouted happily.

The Guardians all paused in mid-explanation as Lillian ran right towards Sandy. When she reached him, she hugged him tightly.

"I _missed_ you.." she said as her happy grin faded. "Everything went wrong after you left."

Sandy gestured at Lillian and a golden question mark appeared over his head as Lillian pulled away from the hug.

Lillian's face fell more and her golden eyes went to the other Guardians.

"They hurt us," she said gloomily to Sandy.

Her golden eyes, which had gained a spark of life when she first saw Sandy, once again became lifeless.

"No we didn't!" Bunny said angrily. "We were tryin' ta help get the darkness outta ya!"

Sandy shook his head, and gestured once more at Lillian. He gently reached out and tugged on one of her dark curls, holding the hair in front of Lillian's face. Another golden question mark appeared above his head. Lillian blinked at the dark curl and then gently pulled it out of Sandy's hand, letting it fall back down.

"My hair's always been like that," she told Sandy who looked surprised. Her expression changed as she looked at Sandy. "Sandy.." she said, her voice smaller. "You'll fix everything, right?"

Sandy took hold of one of Lillian's hands and pat it gently with a nod.

Lillian gave him a small smile. "I knew you would," she said with feeling. "I believe in you."

As the she said that, she suddenly gasped as this overhwhelmingly strange feeling filled her. She staggered backwards from Sandy and a hand clutched at her cloak clasp.

"..N..no..!" she winced in pain. "..It hurts..!"

Tooth gasped as she watched.

"Her belief..! It's fighting the darkness on its own!"

Bunny gave Lillian an anguished look.

"Crikey, but it's not very strong yet. It won't overcome the darkness, it'll just hurt her!"

Tooth wrung her hands in worry.

"Sandy! Do something!"

Sandy readied a ball of dreamsand and gave Lillian an apologetic look. Before Lillian could do much more than gasp, she was suddenly hit with it and fell to the ground. A golden dream appeared above her head, this one with golden versions of her and Jack with a golden Pitch. Golden Jack was as fun-loving as he used to be and threw what appeared to be a snowball at the golden Pitch. Golden Pitch didn't seem to be upset however, and lobbed a golden snowball back at golden Jack. Soon there was an all out snowball fight.

Sandy then turned toward Jack and did the same to him. Jack's dream involved a golden version of himself sitting with a golden Pitch at a table. They were both drinking from mugs and it appeared that golden Jack was talking to golden Pitch about something and the golden Pitch nodded as he appeared to be listening intently.

Sandy pointed at the Guardians, then he pointed at Pitch's dream, then Lillian's and finally Jack's.

Jamie gasped as he looked.

"They're all dreaming about each other!" Jamie's brow furrowed in confusion as he took in the dreams. "But.. Pitch is being nice in all the dreams."

Bunny snorted at that. "It's the corruption. It's makin' 'em think that Pitch would be nice and Pitch.. well.." Bunny trailed off.

Why _would_ Pitch be having happy dreams about Jack and Lillian. He only wanted to use them, right?

Sandy shook his head firmly. Golden symbols appeared above his head as he explained that he knew that Jack and Lillian had worried about Pitch before they were corrupted. Something was going on with the three of them before everything went wrong.

The rest of the Guardians all looked at one another in confusion. Nobody else had really noticed. Bunny had suspected something, but that had been pushed aside when everything went wrong and they had been fighting Pitch.

Bunny remembered when a Nightmare had kicked Lillian out of the sleigh. If something was going on with them and Pitch, Pitch wouldn't have allowed that, right?

Tooth shook her head as if to clear it.

"It doesn't matter right now. Jack and Lillian need our help _now._ " she said.

"We should get 'em to Manny," Bunny said as he went over to Lillian and scooped her up into his arms.

North, who was already holding Jack anyway, scooped Jack up into his arms while Tooth gently picked up the pieces of Jack's staff with a guilty look on her face.

"Da, we can take to Pole now," North said. "They cannot cause trouble while asleep."

Tooth shook her head as golden symbols appeared above Sandy's head. He indicated that they didn't really have time to travel to the pole.

Bunny huffed impatiently.

"We gotta get 'em to where the moonlight shines brightly then, so Manny can help 'em."

Sandy looked thoughtful and then smiled as it came to him.

A golden picture appeared above his head of a lake and two golden spirits hanging out by it.

"That's right!" Tooth exclaimed. "Jack's lake. It's important to the both of them, so maybe it would help them more than if they were at the Pole."

"Then we go to lake!" North declared while all the Guardians minus Bunny and Sandy climbed on the sleigh.

"I'll meet ya there," Bunny said to the others with an uneasy glance at the sleigh.

While the sleigh took off into the air, Bunny tapped the ground and one of his tunnels appeared. He jumped down into it while holding Lillian. A spring flower bloomed in the spot the hold had been.

Sandy had indicated that the Guardians should go on without him. When they were all gone, he looked over at Pitch. A look of contemplation crossed his face while he gazed at Pitch.

After a moment he nodded to himself and went over to Pitch. He summoned his golden cloud and gently tugged Pitch onto it. Then he climbed onto the cloud as well and took off after the sleigh.

Jamie and his friends all looked at one another when Sandy finally left with Pitch.

"Where's Jack's lake?" Cupcake asked in confusion.

Jamie looked thoughtful for a moment, then lit up.

"I know! They must mean the skating pond in the forest. That's the only lake that's around here."

Caleb struck a pose similar to North and pointed in the direction of the lake.

"To the lake!"

* * *

The Guardians soon reached the lake and gently set Jack and Lillian down on the frozen surface, side by side in the middle of the lake.

Sandy arrived shortly afterwards and moved them apart so that there was a space inbetween them. To the Guardians' astonishment, he set Pitch down inbetween them.

"What are ya doin'?!" Bunny demanded when Sandy floated over by them.

Sandy shrugged and then gestured at the sky.

The moon was full and the moonlight was shining down on the three sleeping spirits. It seemed to grow brighter and more intense as the Guardians watched.

"Manny's helping them!" North said triumphantly.

Lillian's hair began to lighten, the first of them to show any sign that the Man in the Moon was helping them out. Her curls went from pitch black to their rich brown color. The Guardians couldn't see her eyes, which were closed, but they had a feeling that her eyes were going back to their original emerald.

Her skin, which had been gray, was returning to its normal complexion. After a minute, she looked as she used to.

"Why isn't Jack changing?!" Tooth asked in a panicked voice.

Bunny looked from Jack to Tooth, who was still holding the pieces of Jack's staff.

"It's his staff," Bunny said in realization. "His powers are weaker without it, and his belief is the lowest it's been. Lillian gained some of her belief back when she saw Sandy was alive, but Jack was unconscious. Without hardly any belief or his staff, he can't help Manny fight off the darkness."

Tears filled Tooth's eyes.

"He's stuck like that?!"

Before anyone could respond, the kids burst through the woods into the clearing by the lake and Lillian groaned.

"Whoa," Jamie exclaimed as he took in the sight of the intense moonlight shining down on the three spirits and grinned when he saw Lillian's eyes flutter open. "It's working!"

The Guardians exchanged sorrowful looks, but couldn't bring themselves to tell the children about Jack. They would find out soon enough anyway.

Lillian slowly sat up and shook her head. She felt kind of strange. Not immediately noticing her audience, she looked down at herself.

She gasped when she saw her bracelet. It was partially black, but the black seemed to be receding and it was turning back to its pretty pink and green color. She frowned as she tried to recall what had been happening, but everything was so fuzzy.

She looked around and gasped as she spotted Pitch right next to her. She took in his golden dream and blinked. He was.. dreaming of her?

"Pitch?" she said softly. She remembered how different he had been lately. Her last really clear memory was-

She shuddered as she remembered Sandy's death and Pitch.. Pitch was mocking him.

But the golden dream..

Then she noticed Jack and gasped. He was all black and gray!

"Jack!" Lillian cried out in distress. She climbed over Pitch and sat on the ice next to Jack, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up!"

While everyone was busy watching Lillian try to wake up Jack sadly, nobody noticed that Pitch's complexion was very slowly lightening.

* * *

Author's Note: I couldn't resist stopping here. I bet you didn't see that coming! Ok, so.. quick explanation on Lillian. When under the influence of the black sand, she didn't remember ever NOT being under its influence, but she still retained all her memories, if that makes sense. Then when she was healed, she couldn't really remember what was happening when she was under the influence of it.

And as for Jack, well.. I'd imagine that his staff is more than just a conduit for his powers. It's a big part of him. In the movie when it was snapped, he seemed very weak. So I figure while it's broken, a very big part of him is missing. With him so corrupted and asleep though, how is his staff going to be fixed?

Hmm!

As for Pitch, well.. I couldn't resist. I'm not sure exactly how changed he'll be. I figure he'll still have his snarky attitude. I have to thank CrossoverJunkie, since he (and a fic I had read forever ago) gave me the idea for it. In the books, Pitch was changed by the Fearlings, and so if Manny can save Lillian in this fic, why shouldn't he be able to help Pitch too? It also explains a little as to why Pitch was so affected by the Nightmares when they were around. Since Pitch has been affected for so long though, it will take a long time for him to change..

Sorry once again for leaving you on a cliffhanger, but I promise this time I won't make you wait over a month for the next chapter. :) I'll stop with the cliffhangers eventually!

EDIT: I've already started working on the next chapter, so if you have plot ideas, you better hurry up and tell me! :)


	25. Chapter 25: We Believe!

Author's Note: I couldn't resist finishing off this chapter. Thanks to CrossoverJunkie's insight into Jack's staff being fixed, I rewrote a few parts of this chapter to make it more meaningful. Hopefully it isn't too sappy. :) Anyway, I'm glad you guys all liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one! As always, thanks for all the faves, follows and things. Also, over 10k views! Whoo! Also, please ignore that gaping plot hole in the last chapter. I referenced it briefly (if you can spot it!) in this one to sort of smooth it over a little since I don't want to rewrite things in the last chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Five: We Believe!

Lillian shook Jack more, but Jack didn't wake up or stir. He was deeply asleep and didn't seem to want to wake up.

Lillian sniffled as the last of the black left her bracelet.

Tooth stepped forward a bit.

"Um.." she said awkwardly, as Lillian turned her attention to Tooth.

"When you were.. ah.. out of it," Tooth started to explain. "Jack's staff sort of got broken."

Tooth held out the pieces and Lillian gasped in horror. She had never seen Jack's staff like that before.

"We think it's why he isn't changin'," Bunny explained gently to her. "He doesn't have enough power ta help Manny out and Manny's power alone won't help 'im."

Lillian's face fell at Bunny's words, but then determination entered her eyes.

"No!" she exclaimed. "Jack is gonna get better!"

She marched over to Tooth and gently took the pieces of wood. Her bracelet began to glow brightly as she fitted the two pieces together.

"Wood comes from trees and trees grow in the spring," she said as she stared intently at the wood.

"So I just gotta.."

She concentrated as hard as she could, and the wood slowly began to glow. It was harder than unusual for her to concentrate on her powers. It must have been because of whatever had happened to her earlier, to make her memories fuzzy.

The wood didn't grow together like she had expected it to, but a bit of a green vine appeared in the crack and wrapped around the pieces, holding them together. A small flower bloomed in the center of the crack.

"There!" Lillian said triumphantly. "All fixed."

The Guardians exchanged looks. Lillian did the spirit equivalent of taping the staff back together. Would it be enough?

Lillian took the staff back over to Jack and knelt down on the ice by him. She didn't notice that Pitch was looking a little less gray then before.

She reached out and took hold of Jack's hand. She pressed the staff into it and curled his fingers around the staff.

She gasped at the tingly feeling she felt and blinked as she saw the wood of the staff freeze.

The freezing looked.. wrong, however. Jack's powers were always light and fun, but this held a cold darkness to it.

Lillian shivered and looked at Jack anxiously.

"I believe in you Jack," she murmured to him. "Come back to us."

As she held Jack's hand, a blue light on the globe on the sleigh (now completely devoid of blackness) shone a bright blue. It wasn't as bright as it had been in the past, but it was much brighter than it had been.

Lillian held Jack's hand tightly as her belief in Jack grew.

Tears filled her eyes as she saw that Jack's black hair was lightening. She gave a wobbly smile as Jack's hair continued to lighten, but then it stopped and her smile disappeared.

"Jack?" Lillian asked uncertainly.

Tooth gasped and looked at the two spirits sadly.

"It's not enough," Tooth said sorrowfully. "Her belief and Jack's staff aren't powerful enough to bring him back."

"No!" Bunny said with a frown. "The kid's gotta come back!"

"We do not have powers back yet either, Bunny." North reminded him. "There is not much we can do to help."

Jamie had been listening to this conversation with interest, and as he looked at the dark winter spirit and the newly restored spring spirit, he knew exactly what to do.

"Come on!" he said to his friends as he carefully stepped onto the lake and began to make his way over to the spirits.

The other kids followed and positioned themselves around Jack.

"Huh?" Lillian said in confusion as she looked at all the kids gathered around. Her eyes widened as the kids all gently placed a hand on Jack's arms or legs or in some cases, his head.

Her mouth dropped open as Jamie started talking to Jack.

"We believe in you, Jack Frost!" Jamie said with the light of belief shining strongly in his eyes. "We all believe in you!"

Lillian stared down at Jack as his hair continued to whiten. In fact, where Jack seemed to have been resisting change, now he was changing more quickly than ever. With the help of all the extra believers, the darkness didn't seem to stand a chance.

Soon Jack's hair was back to its normal white and his skin was as pale as it ever was. As soon as the last bit of black left Jack's hair, he groaned as his dream suddenly dissipated.

When his eyes fluttered open, Lillian gave a loud cheer and launched herself at him. The kids pulled away a bit as Jack suddenly found himself with an armful of Lillian. He laughed as he sat up and and looked around. The laugh however died away quickly when he saw all the kids sitting around him, staring at him.

"Uh.." he said in confusion.

The kids began to cheer as Jack stared at them.

"Jack Frost!" Jamie shouted. "You're alright!"

"Wha..?" Jack said in bewilderment. "You.. ah.. you can see me?"

The kids all nodded.

"All of you?" he continued.

The kids all nodded and grinned at him.

A little unnerved, Jack looked down at Lillian.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

Lillian shrugged.

"I don't know.. I just know you were all black and gray." she explained. Her eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh! And Tooth said your staff was broken, but I fixed it."

"Broken?!" Jack yelped.

No wonder why he felt so awful! He realized he was holding his staff and looked down at it. It had a big crack in the middle that had a vine growing out of it. He looked more closely and realized that the vine was holding the staff together. He hugged his staff close as Lillian moved away a little to give Jack some space.

Jack looked so sad as he held his staff close. Everything was a little fuzzy, but he clearly remembered all the hurtful things the Guardians had said to him. He remembered fleeing to Antarctica and almost throwing his memories away. He closed his eyes when he remembered Pitch showing up with a dark Lillian...

"Jack," Tooth said. "We're sorry. We.. we didn't mean to turn you away."

"Da," North said with a significant look at Bunny. "We should have asked for explanation."

Jack opened his eyes and looked over at the Guardians, who were still on the shore by the lake.

"How.. how did my staff get broken?" he asked softly.

The Guardians exchanged uneasy looks and Tooth stepped forward, her head bowed.

"You were under Pitch's control, Jack. We tried to get your staff away so you couldn't hurt anyone with your powers."

Jack looked down at his poor, broken staff.

"Hurt anyone..?"

Had he tried to hurt people with his powers? He was Jack Frost.. He was fun times and snow days.

He didn't hurt people.

Did he?

Lillian gave Jack a hug as she saw the look on his face.

"It's ok Jack," she said. "You're better now. And you can _really_ fix your staff so it's better now."

Jack looked uncertainly at the staff.

"My staff channels my power," he said. "Without it.. I can't do anything."

"Sure you can," Lillian said. "You just gotta _believe._ "

Believe..

Jack looked up from the staff to over to Lillian, then over at the Guardians.

The Guardians' looks all ranged from cautiously hopeful, to guilty (Tooth). Sandy waved enthusiastically at Jack and Jack gaped at him.

"S-Sandy?!"

How could he have not noticed earlier?! Sandy was _alive!_

Jack gave him a huge grin, but the grin faded when he saw Bunny standing nearby, with his arms crossed.

"You can fix it," Jamie said with a happy smile at Jack. "You're Jack Frost."

Jack glanced at the kids. He had _believers._

It was what he always wanted, but..

"What about..?" Jack asked Lillian suddenly, as he remembered.

Pitch!

Lillian gestured beyond some of the kids to where Pitch lay.

"He's dreaming about us," Lillian said softly to Jack. "But he won't wake up.. I dunno what's wrong with him. You have to fix your staff Jack. We have to help him."

Jamie exchanged confused looks with his friends at that. Lillian was speaking softly enough so the Guardians wouldn't overhear them, but the kids were right there and could clearly hear what was being said.

"..Right," Jack said hesitantly. Lillian didn't seem to remember anything of Antarctica, but he certainly wouldn't forget the look on Pitch's face as the Nightmare sand plunged into the wound that Pitch gave him.

Jack looked back down at his staff.

It was now or never.

He concentrated on the staff, but nothing happened. A disappointed look crossed his face, but one glance at Lillian's pleading look had him looking back at the staff.

No!

He could do this.

He _had_ to do this.

Jack took a deep breath and concentrated on his staff once more.

He remembered the happy times he had with Pitch and Lillian, and when he was friendly with the Guardians. He remembered when everything was right with the world. He wanted that back again.

All he had to do..

Jack's eyes narrowed at his staff as he reached deep inside himself for the power of Winter.

"..I.. I believe," he murmured.

His intense look of concentration turned into a happy grin as a pure blue spark of raw winter magic shot through the staff, disintegrating the vine and flower instantly as the staff fuzed back together.

It frosted over the way it should, with Jack's usual winter powers.

"I did it!" Jack said happily.

A blue light on the globe on the sleigh that had been nearly extinguished suddenly blazed a brighter blue. Now both blue lights were shining without any blackness and the regular golden lights of Jamie and his friends were brighter than ever.

"Oh!" Tooth said in surprise as she felt a little tingly. Suddenly her wings began to flutter and she flew up on the air. "My powers..!"

"Aha!" North straightened up and drew both his scimitars with a grin.

The Guardians all looked at poor Bunny, who was still a young Pooka. He was still pretty strong (strong enough to haul Lillian through the tunnels, apparently) but he was so _short._

"C'mon, c'mon.." he said impatiently as Jack finally got to his feet.

Jack noticed that the ice was getting a little mushy thanks to Lillian's uncontrollable flowers that tried growing wherever she stood. When on ice, it just made the ice melt.

He tapped his staff hastily on the mush and it instantly froze over before anyone could fall in. He carefully made sure it was frozen over good and solid before he looked at Pitch.

He frowned a little when he noticed that the moonlight was really intense. He looked up at the moon, then back down at Pitch.

"Uh.. does Pitch seem kind of.. different to you?" he asked Lillian.

Lillian looked over curiously.

"Noo.." Lillian said slowly, then blinked. "Wait! He's kinda.. less gray? Maybe a little. It's hard to tell."

"That's what I thought," Jack said as he walked over by Pitch.

"Isn't Pitch the boogeyman?" Jamie asked Jack curiously. "Why do you want to help him?"

Lillian frowned at Jamie.

"Pitch isn't bad! He's just misunderstood!"

Jamie blinked at her.

" _Misunderstood?_ The _Boogeyman?_ "

Lillian blinked back at him as she realized _he could see her._

She looked around at the other kids who were busy gazing at either her, Jack or the Guardians. As they noticed she was looking at them, their attention was slowly drawn to her.

"Uh.." Lillian looked flustered, since she wasn't used to anyone seeing her outside of Halloween.

She stood up and hastily made her way over by Jack and Pitch.

Bunny stopped waiting to transform as he saw Lillian and Jack by Pitch.

"See? Look at that! They just got saved by the kids'n Manny from 'im and they go runnin' right back to him!"

Sandy gave Bunny a look, as clearly there was more going on than they understood.

Bunny avoided Sandy's gaze as he frowned at Jack.

"What do we do?" Lillian asked Jack softly.

"I.. I don't know," Jack said, sounding lost. "Do we wait?"

Lillian tilted her head at Pitch.

"It kinda looks like how you were changing, only a LOT slower. Do you think we could help him change faster with our powers? I helped you change faster with the kids.."

She brightened as she said that.

The kids!

"If they all believe in him, then their belief could help him out!" she exclaimed happily.

Jamie looked dumbfounded.

 _What?!_

Bunny heard this and started to go charging forward, a pint-sized angry ball of fury.

"You can't go helpin' _Pitch Black!_ " Bunny shouted. "He's _evil!_ "

Jack looked over at the tiny Bunny and gave his trademark smirk. But before he hitched it onto his face, the Guardians (except for Bunny, who was too furious to see) all noticed the look of hurt.

Tooth glanced at North and Sandy.

Had Jack always done that?

Jack looked back down at Pitch and a feeling of defiance overcame him.

"Let's do it," he said firmly to Lillian. "Maybe it'll help Pitch be more like himself. And if the Man in the Moon wants to do it," he raised his voice so Bunny would be sure to hear, "then that's good enough for me."

"Yay!" Lillian cheered and then knelt down by Pitch as she tucked her hand into his.

Jack knelt down on Pitch's other side and held his hand. He looked over at the kids expectantly.

"We already believe in him," Jamie explained. "And he's _scary_ ," he said doubtfully to Jack. "Why would we want to _help_ him?"

Jack shook his head.

"It's a long story," he said. "But Pitch wasn't always so evil. He helped us out when we had no one else. We want that Pitch back."

Lillian nodded at Jack's words.

"We can't do it alone," she said looking back down at Pitch with worry. "Won't you help us?"

Reluctantly, Jamie and his friends all stepped forward and surrounded Pitch like they had done with Jack.

Bunny stopped in his tracks as he saw the gray leaving Pitch's face at a much faster rate.

It wasn't long before, a non-gray Pitch was laying on the ice. His golden dream faded away and he opened his eyes.

He sat up looking utterly perplexed.

Lillian gasped as Pitch's eyes looked a little different now. They were still golden, but the golden was more softer now, and not like the harsher yellow of the Nightmares.

"What..?" Pitch said in confusion as he took in Jack, Lillian, and all the children surrounding him.

"Oh great," Bunny grumbled.

He gave an undignified squeak of surprise as he transformed suddenly back into his normal Pooka self.

Finally!

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, so explanation on Pitch. He isn't going to magically be Kozmotis Pitchiner. He still Pitch, just minus all the evil of trying to get rid of the Guardians and inflict fear in EVERYTHING. He'll be more like the nicer Pitch Jack and Lillian knew, just with a normal skintone now. Also, don't hurt me for where I stopped.. It seemed like a good stopping point. I'm also happy to inform you that the _next_ chapter will wrap everything up and that will actually be the final movie-ish chapter. Then we can get along into the next portion before all kinds of PLOT crops back up again. I figure after all this angst, I'll throw in some happy before the angst comes back. Maybe we'll get get a cameo of Pitch visiting Jamie's mom. I really want to see Jamie's reaction to that. Muwahahaha. I've also been thinking of the drabbles that will eventually come, and was wondering if I should have maybe a crossover one? Maybe? I dunno. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, so dumping Jack and Lillian at Hogwarts randomly sounds pretty fun. I guess I should worry about current plot first before I get into that. Heh. Anyway! If you have plot ideas/suggestions/whatever, feel free to let me know.

Oh, and I won't say when the next update will be, since.. holiday! I will be busy! So we'll see when the next update is.

EDIT: I had Bunny get his powers back super late because.. I'm evil. And it was funny.


	26. Chapter 26: Almost Forgotten

Author's Note: First of all, I have to say I LOVE the suggestion of Lillian calling Pitch 'Dad' at some point and him getting all emotional. I didn't see this until after I had written the chapter, but that is so appearing in the near future. And, I kinda lied about this chapter being all about things being resolved. It is technically the movie end, since the kids DO go home, but.. there is SO much.. unresolvedness! You'll see once you read the chapter. Let's just say things are messed up (thank you, horrible Easter) and the Guardians are going to have to REALLY work to make things right. And you know I couldn't resist giving you another chapter. I couldn't leave things hanging like that. I promise this one isn't so cliffhangery.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Almost Forgotten

Bunny, now his intimidating full size, glared at Pitch mistrustfully as the intense moonlight from Manny finally faded. He stomped back over by Tooth and got his boomerangs back, making sure to place them in their holders on his back.

Pitch still looked confused as he took in the sight of Jamie and his friends surrounding him. When his gaze fell on Jamie, Jamie gulped and moved back. His friends decided to do the same, giving Pitch more space.

Pitch's gaze then fell on Jack and Lillian.

Everything seemed so.. so.. vague now. He couldn't remember what he had been doing, or why he seemed to be sitting on ice or why those children were just staring at him. Since when could children see him?

Lillian looked at Pitch anxiously as he seemed so confused. He had changed like Jack had when Jack was all black, and she knew her own memory was fuzzy. Was Pitch's memory fuzzy too? But Pitch had always been gray as long as she and Jack had known him. Did this mean he didn't remember anything about Jack or her? Had he forgotten?

"..Pitch..?" Lillian said hesitantly, her voice small.

Jack glanced down at Lillian and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He looked back at Pitch and realized what she was so concerned about. Jack couldn't remember much about what he had been doing or what had happened when he was under the influence of the Nightmare sand. If Pitch had something similar happening with him, would Pitch even remember him or Lillian?

He thought of all the talks he and Pitch had had, and all the holidays the three of them had spent together. Jack remembered the familiar way that Pitch would ruffle Lillian's curls or when she would sit sometimes on Pitch's lap and fall asleep while he was talking to Jack.

He remembered how he and Pitch would tuck Lillian in at night and how happy Lillian had been over the years, before Pitch started acting strangely.

Jack felt a lump in his throat and his heart constricted at the thought that Pitch might have forgotten all that.

If Pitch couldn't remember, their little family would be gone.

Pitch looked away from the stricken faces of Jack and Lillian. He couldn't understand why those two were looking at him like that. It certainly wasn't because of anything he had done.

He felt something in his pocket and gently pulled it out. He blinked when he saw the very ruffled and ticked off Baby Tooth. She had been in Pitch's pocket for so long! Ever since he had grinned wickedly at her before he took off for Antarctica and placed her in there 'just in case Jack wouldn't cooperate' as he had put it.

She glared angrily at Pitch and stuck her beak in his hand.

"Ouch!" Pitch said as he dropped her in shock.

Baby Tooth quickly darted to the safest place she could find: Jack's hood.

She burrowed herself in it and didn't seem inclined to come out any time soon.

Pitch felt something else in his pocket and pulled it out. In the background Tooth gasped as she saw Pitch was holding one of her tooth canisters.

Pitch furrowed his brow. Why in the world did he have this?

He turned the case around so he could see the picture at one end. It was of a small girl with curly, brown hair and gray eyes. The brown was more dull and ordinary. He stared at the picture. It seemed so familiar...

Then it hit him.

A girl in pink laying against a tree in the snow, her fear calling out to him.

Him comforting her as she lay there dying.

The moon smugly transforming her into a Child of Spring.

Lillian.

The new spring spirit.

He remembered a giant pink flower spitting her out onto the icy surface of a lake.

Her meeting a boy..

Jack Frost.

Spirit of Winter.

He tightened his grip on the canister as memories suddenly flooded him.

Bright points in a sea of neverending darkness.

Sitting with Lillian in a cave room, reading her bedtime stories.

Sitting at a table with Jack, drinking tea and discussing serious topics.

Watching them play around in the snow.

Lillian and Jack's very first proper Christmas with a tree that they had all decorated at Pitch's.

Flashes of holidays all celebrated together.

He remembered sitting there with Lillian in the clearing as she had just become the Spirit of Spring not long ago.

"We'll be like a family," she had told him, her eyes sparkling.

A family.

Something he had always longed for.

A family...

He looked up from the canister to the stricken faces of Jack and Lillian and suddenly realized why they looked so stricken.

He had almost forgotten them.

Almost.

But not quite.

His expression softened a little as he looked at them.

Tooth put her hands to her mouth, staring in disbelief at Pitch. She couldn't remember him _ever_ looking like that. Not as Pitch Black.

"Oh my goodness!" she whispered.

Sandy watched thoughtfully and North seemed very surprised as well.

Bunny frowned, not quite believing what he was seeing.

"P-Pitch?" Lillian said again, hesitantly.

"Foolish children," Pitch said and gave them an eye roll. "Did you honestly think that I could forget you?"

"Oh, Pitch!" Lillian cried out as she launched herself into his arms.

Pitch wrapped his arms around her.

"I would never forget you," he murmured to her.

Jack settled for a happy grin and walked over closer to them.

Jamie, his friends and the rest of the Guardians all looked very shocked at Pitch hugging Lillian.

 _The Boogeyman_ was hugging someone?

Lillian started to cry as she clung to him.

"I thought I lost you!" she sobbed. "Y-you were so d-different..!"

Jack knew that Lillian was referring to when Pitch began to change and get more distant with them, and then when Pitch was.. well.. _evil_.

Pitch rubbed her back soothingly.

"It's a little vague," he admitted to the spirits softly. "But I do remember both of you. That I remember quite clearly."

"So.." Jamie said hesitantly. "Uh.. You _don't_ want to take over the world anymore and give everyone horrible nightmares?"

Pitch blinked and looked at Jamie as if he had never quite seen a child like him before. He gently pulled away from Lillian and got up to his feet.

Jamie gulped and resisted the urge to move even further back.

"I have no interest in ruling the world," Pitch said giving Jamie a strange look. "And as for nightmares.. Every child needs a nightmare or two. That's how they learn to conquer their fears. Too many of course, would defeat the purpose."

Bunny stomped forward at that, despite Sandy trying to stop him from going on his tirade.

"Then what about all those bloody Nightmares?!" Bunny shouted. "Those horses runnin' around every which way causing chaos?!"

Pitch looked over as if noticing the Guardians for the first time. He narrowed his eyes as if trying to remember them, like a long forgotten dream.

His expression cleared as the memories came to him.

Of course.

Nicholas St. North, Toothiana, Sanderson Mansnoozie and E. Aster Bunnymund.

The Guardians.

The Guardians of everyone but immortal children, he remembered.

But they had recently redeemed themselves when they finally started acknowledging Jack and Lillian at Christmas.

Something had happened after that..

He had been.. experimenting with something..?

He furrowed his brow as his memories turned vague again. Some memories were very clear, but others were extremely vague.

He frowned up at the full moon, knowing that _he_ probably had something to do with this.

The moon sat there innocently as a moon could, but Pitch wasn't fooled.

"Are those mine?" Lillian asked Pitch as she pointed at the tooth canister he was still holding.

Pitch started a little and looked down at it.

"I believe so," he said slowly.

Lillian brightened at that.

"Those are my memories right? I remember you telling Jack that those were our memories from before we were spirits!"

Before Pitch could say anything, Lillian had tugged the canister away and was examining it excitedly.

"I want to see!"

Jack suddenly remembered his own canister and reached inside his hoodie pocket.

Sure enough, it was in there. He pulled out his own golden canister and Tooth gasped.

"Their memories! Pitch must have given it to them!"

"But why?" North murmured. "We thought that Jack was in league with Pitch at the time, but now we know is not true."

Sandy shrugged, as he hadn't been present at that time. But he could tell that Pitch was very different with Jack and Lillian than he was with anyone else. Perhaps that had something to do with it.

"I forgot about them," Jack admitted sheepishly. "But now we can finally see them, right?"

Pitch looked hesitant at that, remembering his suspicions about Lillian having few happy memories as a mortal child.

"Perhaps it would be best done in private," Pitch suggested as he glanced at the kids.

"Oh, right." Jack said with an awkward grin at them. He tucked the canister back in his hoodie pocket.

"Sooo.." Jamie said, drawing the word out. "..Now what?"

"Now?" North boomed out. "Now we make Jack Guardian!"

Jack's mouth fell open as he gazed at the Guardians in disbelief.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"Yes!" North said happily. "Is time, no?"

"No!" Jack frowned at him. "You accused me of destroying Easter and turned your back on me when I needed you the most! Why would I join you?!"

The Guardians all looked at one another.

Whoops.

Lillian frowned at the Guardians as well.

"Jack and I belong with Pitch. He looks after us!" she told them for what felt like the millionth time.

"He's-!" Bunny started, then stopped.

He was going to say what he had said before.

 _He's using you.  
_

But was he?

He remembered the softened look that Pitch had given them.

That wasn't the look of someone trying to manipulate.

It was a look of caring.

Bunny shook his head.

No, this was Pitch Black! Even if he wasn't gray anymore!

Jamie looked utterly bewildered as the spirits faced off.

"Aren't.. aren't you guys all on the same side?"

"Well.." Tooth started.

"It's a long story," Jack butted in.

He noticed that the kids were shivering and most were still in their pajamas.

"Why don't we get you guys home? There isn't going to be any more fighting now that Pitch is.. uh.. more or less normal."

Pitch frowned at that.

"Are you insinuating, Jack, that I am anything _less_ than normal?"

Jack smirked at Pitch.

"Look in a mirror lately?"

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"Very well, return the children to their homes. Lillian and I will be waiting at home."

Lillian smiled up at Pitch at that. It had been a long time since she was home.

"No!" the Guardians all cried out, minus Sandy.

"No?" Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow at them.

"Yeh can't go with him!" Bunny said, distressed. "He's _Pitch Black!_ "

Lillian gave a very Pitch-like eye roll at that.

"Where do you think I lived for all those years? At Jack's lake?"

Their jaws dropped as Lillian took Pitch's hand.

"See you later, Jack!" Lillian called out as Pitch disappeared with her in the shadows.

Jack grinned at the kids as he ignored the Guardians.

"Who wants a ride?" he asked as he flew to the edge of the lake and started an ice path.

Jamie grinned at that as he hurried over.

"Me!"

No one noticed the gleaming yellow eyes watching them from the darkness of the forest as a Nightmare lightly stamped its foot.

* * *

The Guardians all watched sadly as Jack took off with the children, essentially ignoring them.

"This is all wrong!" Tooth said fretfully. "We all worked together to help Jack! He was supposed to join us! I thought he believed in us.."

North shook his head sadly.

"He believes in Sandy. He does not forgive our betrayal of his trust."

Bunny crossed his arms.

"I don't like the lass going off with Pitch. She's so young and easily influenced."

Sandy shook his finger at Bunny and reminded him that they didn't have the full story yet.

Bunny gave Sandy an exasperated look.

"They won't even speak ta us! How are we supposed ta get the story of what's been goin' on?!"

Sandy gave Bunny a smug smirk and pointed at himself.

* * *

Jamie was the last child to be dropped back off at home as Jack flew Jamie up to his room. They let themselves in through the window and Jack made sure Jamie was tucked into bed.

Jamie looked disappointed to see that Jack was leaving. He hadn't gotten to know the non-gray Jack very well, but Jack was starting to become his favorite spirit.

"Will I see you again?" Jamie asked Jack sadly.

Jack ruffled Jamie's hair.

"Of course! I couldn't abandon one of my first believers," Jack said with a smile.

Jamie perked up at that.

"Tomorrow?"

"It's a school day, isn't it?" Jack asked.

Jamie nodded sadly.

Jack's eyes sparkled with mischief.

"Maybe you'll get a snow day."

Jamie grinned happily at that.

"That's you?! Awesome!"

* * *

Pitch and Lillian stepped through the shadows and Pitch was startled to see all the cages hanging from the ceiling in the globe room, containing all of Tooth's fairies.

The broken cage still lay on the ground, the one Lillian had escaped from.

Lillian looked at the fairies sadly, not really remembering why they were there either.

Pitch placed his hands on his hips.

"What a mess," he said with a shake of his head. "It'll have to go."

By the time he and Lillian had finished freeing all the fairies and getting rid of the cages, Jack had just finished tucking Jamie back into bed and was heading back to Pitch's lair, as requested.

Lillian wiped her forehead as she helped Pitch toss the last cage into a forgotten storage room of some sort.

"Whew!"

The smile she directed at Pitch faltered when she heard the stamp of a hoof.

"What was that?" she asked nervously as she looked around.

They were in a part of the lair that was darker and not often used.

Pitch frowned at the noise.

It sounded familiar..

He shook his head.

"It was nothing," he said. "This place is old and has its noises."

It must have been his imagination, he decided. They were jumpy after everything that had happened.

..Whatever that was.

He was still very vague on the details.

"Let's go to your room," Pitch said as he took Lillian's hand and tugged her into a shadow.

They emerged from a shadow in the corner of Lillian's room, which was lit with a comforting warmth.

He stumbled as he nearly tripped on something and his jaw dropped as he looked around.

It was a _mess_.

He stared down at Lillian incredulously, and was surprised to see that _she_ was surprised by mess.

Lillian had forgotten that she had left her room so horribly messy. She glanced up at Pitch who was staring at her as if she had suddenly become some person he didn't recognize, and blushed.

She remembered that she had let her room get messier and messier in an attempt to get Pitch to scold her for it, so he would pay attention to her again.

"Um.." she said hesitantly.

Pitch shook his head at her.

"You, young lady, are not leaving this room until it's spotless." he told her in a serious tone.

"But..!" Lillian exclaimed.

"No buts," Pitch said in his Adult Voice. "And you can forget about playing with Jack at his lake tomorrow. It'll take quite some time for you to clean this room, and until then, you're grounded."

Lillian pouted as Pitch left the room to go investigate the rest of the lair, but inside she was secretly glowing.

Pitch cared again!

* * *

Author's Note: So you know I didn't forget the memories. But because of everything that happened, Jack hasn't gotten around to viewing them and realizing he's Guardian material after all. In the movie they never really addressed the Guardians and Jack resolving their differences. Bunny forgave Jack in the movie when Jack helped Jamie believe, and Jack apparently forgave the Guardians, even though they were pretty horrible to him. But this fic went down differently. The Guardians got the kids to believe all by themselves, Jack was evil most of the time and nothing got resolved, so of _course_ Jack isn't going to just join them right away.

So now we're into after the movie. I hinted around that all is not quite so peaceful yet (remember in the movie that there were some Nightmares still around and the kids hadn't gotten all of them).

Pitch hasn't been defeated as there didn't need to be an epic fight scene, since Manny helped out instead. :) Pitch, Jack and Lillian all get to be a happy family again and things have kind of gone back to where they were before Pitch started going evil. I decided that Pitch will keep all his powers over nightmares and shadows, but since he no longer is being influenced by the Nightmares at all, he might not have the same need to be in the darkness all the time.

Go to the light Pitch! Go on! You can do it!

Hehe.

The Guardians all have some major apologizing to do and it'll take some time before Jack considers joining them.. So the next few chapters will alternate between plotting Guardians, and happy family scenes with Pitch before they realize that they kinda forgot about something and need to fix it before it gets out of hand..

If you guys have any mushy/happy/silly/whatever family scenes you'd like to see with your favorite spirits, now's the chance to suggest them! I'll probably post the next chapter after the holidays sometime, so you'll have time to suggest things.

Oh, and about Pitch's memory.. Jack and Lillian don't remember what happened when they were under the influence of the Nightmare sand, and so Pitch doesn't either. But Pitch was under the influence for _hundreds of years._ It was only lately that the Nightmares were effecting him more and making him _more_ evil. It makes sense if you're going by the books, I suppose.. but.. not.. kinda really.. if you go only by the movie? Eh. Well! So Pitch's memories are all _really_ vague, except for the ones with Jack and Lillian, since those were the times he was the least influenced and was more good. Bet I had you worried there for a minute in the beginning though!


	27. Chapter 27: Dreams & Memories

Author's Note: Ok, I lied. I had to do another chapter. Also, MAJOR angst warning! The happy fun times aren't starting just yet as I realized I had one more chapter to go before then. Also, **major warning** for abuse and character death. If you don't want to read this, it's ok. You can read up the parts where it goes all in italics. The italics are super sad! You are warned! Also, the italics are memories. I knew I was going to show them eventually, and I knew for sure that the beginning one and the ending one would be in there, but I didn't realize that all the rest would be so.. depressing. I promise I'll have something happier up for the next chapter after we get through all the angst.

As for reviews, I like the idea of Jamie and Jack bonding and that will definitely happen soon. Since Twister was a drabble idea, that won't come until after the end of the story, but I can definitely squeeze that in somewhere. :)

 **Remember, if you want to avoid the sadness, don't read the italics!** It'll explain a bit in the next chapter what happened, if you don't want to read the specifics of it.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Dreams & Memories

Jack flew through Burgess, headed straight for Pitch's lair. A grin lit up his face as he thought.

Finally, _finally_ things were back to normal. No more Pitch acting strange and no more sad Lillian. No more avoiding Pitch.

He couldn't wait to get back to the lair. Maybe they would all have tea!

As these happy thoughts filled his head, he suddenly noticed all the golden streams of dreamsand that were flying through the air.

His heart swelled as he took in the sight.

Sandy was nearby spreading dreams again.

He had really missed Sandy.

His grin faded a bit as he remembered Sandy dying.

That look on Pitch's face as he stood there, _mocking_ Sandy who was dying...

"Oof!" Jack exclaimed as he flew straight into a certain golden cloud with a thud.

He landed unceremoniously on the cloud on his back, looking a little dazed.

As he blinked, the worried face of Sandy filled his vision as Sandy leaned down over him.

Jack sat up and rubbed his head.

"Sorry Sandy, I uh.. I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," Jack admitted.

A golden question mark appeared above Sandy's head, as he was curious what was on Jack's mind to distract him.

Jack, guessing at what Sandy wanted to know, shook his head looking very somber for a moment.

"..It's.. it's nothing," he lied.

He shook his head and hitched a smirk on his face, but Sandy recognized the smirk finally for what it was. It was the look that Jack got when he didn't want anyone to know how he was really feeling.

A defense mechanism.

Why hadn't they noticed it before?

He remembered that Jack often got that look when he was interacting with the Guardians and he internally winced.

It made him feel like a failure, like they hadn't been there for poor Jack at all.

And little Lillian, living all this time with Pitch Black and they didn't know!

Sandy gave Jack a piercing look and Jack looked uncomfortable, realizing that Sandy was probably going to scold him for him rejecting the Guardians.

Several golden symbols appeared above Sandy's head: A snowflake, a spring flower and finally a golden Pitch with a big question mark following it?

Jack blinked in surprise, not expecting that at all. He looked at the symbols and frowned a bit. The meaning was pretty clear: _How do you two know Pitch?_

Jack shifted his gaze from the symbols back to Sandy. How much should he tell? Pitch had expressly forbidden them from telling anyone, but now Lillian let the cat out of the bag..

With a sigh, he began to explain their relationship with Pitch.

"Pitch is the one who found Lillian first," Jack explained. "He saw her become the Child of Spring, a new spring spirit. He was waiting for the Guardians to come help her, since she was a child spirit but nobody ever showed up, so he took her in."

Sandy's shoulders slumped at that. He remembered the night that Manny's moonlight had lit up on the symbol for spring, but they hadn't been able to figure out what he meant.

"Shortly after that, Lillian accidentally met me at my lake. It's hard to explain, but.. Pitch is different with her. Lillian didn't have anyone else and she seemed very childlike when she was first turned into a spirit." Jack looked to the side, looking very vulnerable at the moment. "She was my only friend besides the wind at the time. She was the first person to really believe in me."

Jack's words were like a slap to the face to Sandy. For _hundreds_ of years they had ignored Jack, assuming he was just some terrible trouble maker and that he wasn't worth their time.

They didn't just neglect one child either, they neglected two. They would have done exactly the same thing to Lillian if Pitch hadn't come along.

Sandy looked uncomfortable at that thought as Jack continued.

Jack hugged his staff to his chest as he spoke. He wasn't sure why he was telling all this to Sandy, but Sandy was the only other spirit (besides Pitch and Lillian) who was sort of his friend, and he was so relieved to have Sandy back alive again.

"There was an accident at my lake with Lillian's powers, and I had to save her from drowning," he shivered at the thought, "and she got sick. I started visiting her at Pitch's lair and things.. kinda evolved from there. Pitch barely tolerated me being there, and then he kinda.. I dunno, we talked. He started being kinda.. _nice_ to me."

Sandy looked pretty surprised at that. Pitch Black, _nice?_

"So we started hanging out more and more, and then.." Jack shrugged, looking embarrassed. "We became a family. That winter, Lillian and I made a mess of Pitch's globe room because Lillian wanted to decorate for Christmas. Pitch was pretty upset, but when he saw how important it was to Lillian, we cleaned up the mess and decorated with real decorations. After that, we started celebrating all the holidays together."

Jack smiled at the memory, his eyes shining.

"I never had anyone to celebrate with before." He looked up at Sandy, suddenly serious. "That's why they can't take her away from Pitch, Sandy. Pitch is like her dad.." Jack blushed and ducked his head a bit. "He's been like a dad to the both of us. Without him, we don't have our family."

Sandy was shocked. He knew something was going on with the three of them, but he never suspected that! Although now that he thought about it, he should have realized.

"You won't let them take Lillian away from Pitch, right?" Jack asked. "I know they care about her more than me, but it would break her heart to be taken away forever. Pitch would never hurt or scare her. She's the one kid that he protects and looks after."

Sandy gave Jack a sad smile. Golden symbols appeared above his head to tell Jack that the other Guardians cared about him too. He explained that everything was probably just one big misunderstanding and that things would work out.

Jack looked away at that.

"You weren't there.." he whispered brokenly to Sandy. "You didn't see the looks on their faces. They.. they wouldn't listen to me and Bunny-"

Jack stopped as his voice broke.

Sandy was startled to see unshed tears in Jack's eyes.

Jack shook his head and stood up.

"I have to go, I'll be late getting back."

Without a backward glance, Jack called the wind and flew away.

* * *

Pitch was wandering around the lair, absently looking to see if anything was out of place. It seemed all was in order, except for a particularly dark room. He had looked inside, but he couldn't find anything other than it felt like something _evil_ had been in there.

With a shiver he would never admit to having, he quickly closed the door and reminded himself to tell Jack and Lillian that that room would be off limits. He went into a shadow and appeared in his globe room. He nearly stumbled over something and looked around in dismay.

He and Lillian had gotten rid of all those wretched cages, but the little fairies had remained behind. They were too small to carry any of the tooth cases, so they all remained there, touching cases here and there, making them glow for children.

He ran a hand over his face with a sigh.

How on earth was going to get rid of them?!

How had he gotten them all there?

He frowned as he tried to remember, but all he could remember was something about darkness, and using that to transport the tooth cases.

He threw his hands up in the air in disgust and stomped over to the globe to check it out. Thanks to Sandy and the little tooth fairies, the golden lights on the globe were all reappearing. He noted with satisfaction that the two blue lights on the globe were glowing. They had flared brightly when they shed the darkness, but now they were back to their usual dim selves.

Pitch shrugged at that. That was the Guardians' problem, not his. If they wanted the two children spirits to believe in them, they would have to deal with it. He certainly wasn't going to do them any favors.

A cold winter wind suddenly whipped through the globe room as Jack Frost flew down through the hole under the bed.

He came to a landing near Pitch and hitched his smirk on his face. A part of him was sad that he had to do this with Pitch, as he usually didn't, but he didn't really feel like talking about the Guardians' betrayal at the moment and he didn't want Pitch to know he was sad.

"Where's Lillian?" he casually asked.

Pitch took in Jack's expression with a slight frown. His eyes weren't lit up in mirth or mischief as they usually were. Instead they seemed rather sad. But he realized that if Jack wasn't bringing it up, he probably didn't want to talk about it, so Pitch decided to humor him.

"She's in her room, cleaning up the tornado that seems to have hit it." Pitch said with a shake of his head. "She's supposed to be grounded, but perhaps you can go help her clean it. It'll take her days to get it straightened out at this point."

Jack nodded in thanks and took off for Lillian's room. He soon reached it and whistled softly when he saw the horrible mess it was.

Instead of cleaning it though, Lillian was sitting on her bed with her tooth case in her hands. She had tucked it absentmindedly in her pocket when she and Pitch were moving all the cages, and had felt it there when she had started to clean her room. Curious about it, she had brought it out and started to examine it.

Jack picked his way around the mess and sat down by her on the bed. He reached into his hoodie pocket and brought own his own tooth case. He could see the picture on the side was of a boy with brown hair and brown eyes, smirking. Was that really him?

"How do we see our memories?" Lillian asked softly as she continued to look at her case.

Jack shrugged.

"I'm not sure."

He was going to say more, but there was an excited tweet from his hood as Baby Tooth finally emerged from it. She smiled happily at both Jack and Lillian as she flew down and touched both the cases in the center.

Lillian and Jack both gasped as the cases began to glow. They looked at one another in shock and then looked back down at their cases.

Baby Tooth nodded at the pair of them encouragingly.

With a deep breath, Jack reached out with his free hand and grasped Lillian's tightly. He set the glowing tooth case down in his lap and reached out to touch the middle.

Lillian felt Jack's hand grasp hers and she looked over to see what he was doing. Realizing that Jack just wanted some support, she squeezed his hand and then mimicked him.

She reached out with her other hand and touched the tooth case. A picture seemed to unfold from the case and suddenly, she could see she was somewhere else.

Somewhere very familiar..

* * *

 _There was darkness as if Lillian had her eyes closed, but she could clearly hear a young woman humming a lullaby softly. Lillian felt arms wrapped around her from behind and felt a woman stroking her hair. Lillian leaned back in the woman's embrace, feeling loved._

* * *

 _Lillian was smiling happily as she was in a small room. The furniture was very worn and the bed was tiny. The bed frame looked it was on its last legs, but she didn't take any notice of this. She looked about three and half years old and was bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly._

 _"Daddy's going out today, right?" she asked a young woman. The woman had curly hair just like hers, but this woman's hair was dark. She had the same gray eyes as Lillian and she smiled for her daughter, but her eyes were weary. Her dress looked a little frayed at the edges and it had a few patches._

 _"I think so," the woman said softly. "What do you want to do?"_

 _"Plaaay~!" Lillian said excitedly as she twirled around. "Let's go to the park!"_

 _"LILA! Shut that brat up!" a harsh voice could be heard coming from downstairs._

 _The woman flinched at the tone and went over to her daughter._

 _"Lillian, let's play a game right now." she whispered to her daughter. "Let's see how quiet we can be."_

 _Lillian looked up at the woman, her mother, and tilted her head._

 _"Why?" she asked curiously._

 _"Please," the woman said a little desperately. "Let's sit down and I'll brush your hair. If you're a good girl, maybe we can go to the park later."_

 _Lillian smiled happily at that and promptly sat down on the bed. She didn't notice the look of relief on her mother's face as her mother fetched the brush and sat down behind her._

* * *

 _Lillian was around the same age and she was running about the park near her house, playing happily._

 _Her mother was perched on a bench nearby, and kept nervously checking the time._

* * *

 _Lillian looked a little older and looked out the window jealously as kids began to walk to school._

 _"Why can't I go to school?" Lillian complained to her mother._

 _They were both in the kitchen and her mother was making them breakfast. As her father was a late sleeper, he wasn't awake yet to complain about the noise._

 _"I told you, I can teach you what you need to learn for now," her mother said quietly. "School is expensive, and we don't have the money right now. Besides, you're still too young for school."_

 _Lillian gave a dramatic sigh as she could see kids cutting through the neighbors' back yard, carrying their school books._

 _"When_ can _I go to school?"_

* * *

 _Lillian seemed to be the same age and was wearing her favorite pink dress and her frayed coat. Other kids ran around with baskets, but she didn't have one. With a smile, she found an egg by the bush at the park and picked it up._

 _She loved Easter!_

* * *

 _It was later in the year and Lillian was looking so sad._

 _"But if we don't have a Christmas tree, Santa won't know where to leave the presents," she explained to her father._

 _"Hmph," her father grunted as he sat in his favorite place, in the armchair where he continuously drank and complained about how little money they had. He had been bouncing from job to job, but couldn't seem to find any steady employment. "Presents are for kids who were behaved themselves," he said nastily to her. "What makes you think you'll get any?"_

 _Lillian flinched as if he had slapped her._

 _"..I've been good.." she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Santa will come for me."_

 _Later that night, Lillian was lulled to sleep by good dreams of Christmas trees, decorations and Santa leaving presents just for her. In the middle of the night, she never heard the sounds of her parents arguing, boxes being stomped on and paper torn._

 _Lillian woke up bright and early the next morning and bounded downstairs before her mother could stop her._

 _She looked around their living room that was sparsely furnished excitedly for the presents that she knew that Santa had brought her. Her happy smile faded a little when she didn't see any, but then she realized that Santa was confused because they didn't have a tree. Maybe he wanted to hide them like the Easter Bunny hid them?_

 _Half an hour later, Lillian sat in her mother's arms sobbing her heart out._

 _"H-he didn't come..!" Lillian said, her voice muffled as she buried her face into her mother's dress. "I'm bad..!"_

 _Lillian's mother tightened her arms around her daughter with a defeated look on her face. She had several bruises hidden badly by makeup, but Lillian never seemed to notice. She wondered what she would say when Lillian finally did start noticing._

 _"I'm sure he'll come next year," Lillian's mother said softly to her. "You just have to believe."_

 _Lillian shook her head sadly as she pulled away a bit to look up at her mother._

 _"He didn't come last year either," she said sadly. "..I don't think there is a Santa Claus.."_

* * *

 _It was just after the New Year, and Lillian was happily skipping towards the stairs, her prize clutched tightly in her hand._

 _Annoyed with the exuberance that his daughter was showing, her father reached out with a hand and roughly grabbed her shoulder to stop her._

 _"What do you think you're doing?" he said gruffly to her._

 _Lillian was whirled around to face him and her smile faltered._

 _"I lost a tooth when I was eating lunch," she explained. "I was gonna put my tooth under my pillow so the Tooth Fairy could take it."_

 _"Let me see that," her father demanded._

 _Lillian reluctantly held out her hand and he snatched the tooth away._

 _"Hey..!" Lillian exclaimed, but was silenced when he slapped her across the face. Tears filled her eyes as she touched her cheek. He had never hit her before._

 _"There's no such thing as the Tooth Fairy," he said harshly to her. "Stop believing in that nonsense and grow up!"_

 _Tears spilled down Lillian's cheeks as she saw him throw the tooth away._

* * *

 _Through the beginning of that year, Lillian's father and mother continued to fight. One night, Lillian lay buried under her covers, shivering in fright. She could hear the booming voice of her father and her mother's timid reply._

 _As she started to cry, she didn't notice the pair of golden eyes watching her from the shadowy corner._

 _She also didn't notice the look of pity that was flashed her way as apparently the golden eyes decided that she didn't need a nightmare that night._

* * *

 _That Easter, Lillian spent the day gloomily looking out her bedroom window as she watched other kids collect the eggs. Her father told her that she shouldn't be taken in by that nonsense and had ordered her to read her Dick and Jane books._

 _Dick and Jane could see Spot run. She wished she could too._

* * *

 _That Christmas was very quiet. For the first time ever, Lillian didn't bother hoping Santa would come. She didn't pester her mother about decorations and she didn't annoy her father at all. That night, she looked outside her window at the snow and told herself that it didn't matter anyway - there was no Santa Claus._

 _The next Easter, Lillian hadn't bothered asking if she could go outside. She diligently read her children's books (what little she could read of them) and told herself it was alright. If there were eggs, they probably tasted crummy anyway._

* * *

 _It was that October that things seemed to go downhill. Lillian's parents were arguing more than ever and everything seemed to come crashing down near Halloween night. It was late at night and Lillian groggily opened her eyes. She heard the sounds of her parents arguing again._

 _She was going to close her eyes when she heard the panicked sound of her mother pleading. Curious, Lillian quietly got up from bed and crept to the door. It was open a little and she gently pushed it further open._

 _The soft sounds of her footsteps couldn't be heard over all the yelling and she paused in the hallway as she saw her father facing her mother at the top of the stairs._

 _Her father was screaming at her mother and her mother had her arms raised as if in defense._

 _Lillian's eyes widened as her father raised his arm and she flinched at the crack as he backhanded her mother._

 _Her mother was at the top of the stairs however and as she lost her balance, her arms flailed helplessly._

 _Lillian's father watched impassively as his wife tumbled down the stairs. She lay very still at the foot of the stairs, her neck bent at an unnatural angle as a pool of blood began seeping from her head._

 _"Mommy!" Lillian's scream rang out and she brushed past her father as she flew down the stairs._

 _She knelt down by her mother and shook her shoulder._

 _"Wake up! Mommy, w-wake up..!" Lillian sobbed as she kept shaking her mother's shoulder._

 _Lillian's father's face darkened and he stomped down the stairs._

 _"Daddy..!" Lillian wailed as she looked up at him desperately, with tear filled gray eyes._

 _"SHUT UP!" he roared at her and before she knew what was happening, she was thrown to the floor as her father backhanded her too. "She's sleeping and she's never going to wake up! Now get upstairs to your room! NOW!"_

 _Lillian got to her feet unsteadily and awkwardly climbed around her mother, careful to not step in that strange red puddle. She hesitated as she climbed the stairs. The hallway was so dark.._

 _"GET MOVING!" her father shouted from the bottom of the stairs._

 _Lillian gave a muffled shriek and bolted for her bedroom. As she lay in bed shivering with sadness and fright, she could hear strange sounds._

 _She didn't realize they were the sounds of a body being dragged and then later, the sounds of a shovel in the back yard._

 _Nobody thought anything of the new flower garden that appeared in the backyard, and no one really took notice of the young wife that ran out on her husband and child._

* * *

 _That Christmas, Lillian wrote a letter to Santa Claus. She knew deep in her heart that Santa wasn't real, but she wasn't sure who else to turn to. Tears fell down her cheeks as she wrote, asking Santa for the impossible._

 _She asked Santa to wake her Mommy up and bring her back._

* * *

 _The next Easter, Lillian was more cheerful. She had endured the last six months with her father reasonably well, and she was allowed outside this Easter since he preferred to have her out of the house so she wouldn't bother him._

 _She giggled as she found an egg with a picture of an Easter basket on it. The Easter Bunny was so silly!_

 _She wandered farther into the forest, not noticing that the temperature was dropping and the snow getting thicker._

 _She lay in the snow, not really feeling the cold any more. She looked up at the unfamiliar man with the golden eyes as he spoke soothingly to her. She had said softly that she was tired and he told her to rest._

 _The man didn't realize that these were the first words Lillian had spoken to anyone since her mother's death. After that terrible night, Lillian hadn't spoken one word._

 _Her eyes fluttered closed as the man began to hum, and his humming was the very last thing that she heard._

* * *

Lillian gasped as she opened her eyes and she heard a similar gasp from Jack. Jack grinned at Lillian happily.

"Did you see that?!" he exclaimed in glee. "I had a sister! I _saved_ her!"

Lillian looked down at her tooth case as her green eyes filled with tears. She hugged it close to her as she remembered all the pain and sorrow. She felt as if she were six and a half again and she closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks.

Jack stopped in mid-exclamation as he finally noticed Lillian was upset.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"..I..I want.." Lillian said softly. "I want my Mommy..!" she suddenly cried out and burst into tears.

Jack looked at her, completely stunned _._

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I'm evil for leaving it there. But the chapter was already pretty long for me, so I figured that's a good place to stop. If you'll notice, Lillian's dialogue is the same as when she was calling out for Pitch at the beginning of the fic. It was sort of a way for me to bring things around full circle. Pitch did suspect that Lillian had sad memories, and no, he wasn't really going to let her see them, but he got distracted by everything else and forgot that she had them. The beginning part of the next chapter will be sad, but then we'll cut to some Jack and Jamie bonding time for something happier.

And maybe I'll throw in something with the other Guardians as they get some newfound info from Sandy and figure out what to do with it. I might have a few more holidays as after all those horribly sad ones, I want to see some happy ones with Pitch, Jack and Lillian. If you have any suggestions for further happy scenes I can throw in the next couple chapters, it would be much appreciated. And sorry for all the angst, but Lillian's always had this sad story in the back of my mind.

 **Edit:** Fixed a horrendous typo. It's nice of you guys not to point them out. :)


	28. Chapter 28: The Best Dad

Author's Note: Thanks to all the many follows and faves! I'm also glad that I didn't turn you guys off the story with all the sadness in the last chapter. I was a little hesitant to post it, but you guys seemed to like it anyway, so I'm glad. I'm happy to say that this chapter is also sad, but has some happy in it too. I also cannot _wait_ for the Guardians to start getting along with Jack and Lillian, as I'm super curious to see how the two groups mesh together and how Pitch will fit into all this. Anyway, without further ado, the next chapter!

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Best Dad

Jack was stunned. He hadn't expected Lillian to start crying like that. Then the sheer surprise of it all started to wear away and panic took its place.

Oh man, they hadn't even been home five minutes and Lillian was _already_ crying?! What was he going to do?!

Jack stared at Lillian. She had cried here and there over the years, but he was like all guys in this aspect - he simply had no idea what to do with a crying girl.

Well, at least Pitch wasn't there -

"What, may I ask, is going on here?" Pitch's smooth voice came out from a shadow, soon to be followed by Pitch himself as he gracefully stepped out of the shadow and into the corner of the room.

It would have been intimidating, if not for the fact he nearly tripped over a forgotten article of clothing that was on the floor and hit his knee on that blasted table _again_.

"P-Pitch!" Jack said, his voice a full octave higher than normal and a look of panic on his face.

Pitch took one look at Jack, full of guilty panic and rolled his eyes. He maneuvered his way through the small room and over to where Jack and Lillian were. He settled down on the bed by Lillian and looked over at the both of them seriously.

"Now what - " Pitch started, but was cut off as Lillian launched herself into his arms.

He caught her with a startled look, which softened as he took in her appearance. She was sobbing her heart out and it reminded him of _that day_ , that horrible day that she had died and the Guardians had let her down so terribly.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as he had wanted to that day, but they weren't that close yet. He rubbed her back comfortingly and just held her until she finally stopped crying enough to talk.

Jack watched, concerned for his friend, but also amazed at Pitch's skills on dealing with crying females.

"How did you do that?" he asked, his voice awed.

Pitch gave him a 'not now' look, then turned his gaze down on Lillian.

"Now, what's all this crying about?" he asked her gently.

Lillian sniffled as she arranged herself on his lap and looked up at him with tear stained cheeks.

"J-Jack and I looked at our memories," she started to explain. She looked away to gesture at her tooth case, which had fallen on the bed, and missed the piercing look Pitch gave Jack and didn't seem to hear Jack's gulp.

Pitch gently stroked Lillian's hair and sighed sadly.

"I hadn't meant for you to see them," he said softly to her. "I could tell by how I saw you before you became a Child of Spring, that they would most likely be very sad."

Lillian nodded as tears filled her eyes again.

"They.. they make me feel s-small," she tried to explain in a voice that sounded so very young, "and.. and my.. M-Mommy.."

Lillian couldn't continue as she burst into tears again.

"Did your mother die?" Pitch asked in that same soft tone. He didn't want to pry, but he had to know what was causing her so much distress.

"..Y..yes..!" she wailed. "I _saw_ it! Daddy _hit_ her and she fell down the stairs! Sh-she wouldn't get up..!"

Pitch's arms tightened around Lillian and for a moment his eyes darkened and he looked very much like the more dangerous version of himself. But then the moment passed and his eyes looked down sadly at the girl he was coming to regard as a daughter.

"That is a terrible memory," he acknowledged, "especially for one so young."

A memory niggled at the back of his mind. A long time ago, he remembered looking in at a girl who was buried under the covers, crying as her parents loudly argued.

He shook his head slightly to rid himself of the thought.

No.. this wasn't the time to let his mind wander.

Lillian clung to Pitch as she cried, even though it was so long ago, having just relived all her memories, the pain was still sharp and fresh as if it had happened just yesterday.

"Some memories are good, however," he continued. "Surely you must have some happy ones? Why don't you tell me about some of them."

Lillian's crying slowed as she thought of other things. A small smile tugged at her lips as she wiped her eyes.

"Mommy.. I mean, my mom, used to sit with me in my room a lot. She would read to me or sing sometimes."

She glanced up at Pitch shyly.

"When I first met you that day, you sort of reminded me of her. She would stay in my room and hum softly to help me get to sleep."

A torn look appeared on Pitch's face for a moment as he remembered that awful, awful day. He was glad to have helped her, but he didn't like to think of her like that, in her dying moments.

"You know, I had a family once," Pitch said in a strange voice.

It was a difficult subject for him that he never, ever brought up with anyone.

Until now.

"You did?" Lillian asked with wide eyes, her tears forgotten.

Jack scooted closer, so he could hear better.

"Yes, a very long time ago." Pitch said as he played with Lillian's hair, his fingers trailing lightly through her curls. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love forever. And even if thinking of them makes you sad, you have to remember the good memories you had with them. Those are the ones you should treasure the most."

Lillian nodded and leaned back against Pitch.

"So I shouldn't dwell on the sad memories and should focus on the happy ones?" she asked.

"Yes," Pitch said, and his voice held a twinge of sadness and longing in it.

"Pitch," Lillian started. "What happened to your family?"

Pitch's fingers stilled, still tangled in Lillian's hair. He froze, even though he should have been expecting the question.

"You don't have to answer," Jack butted in. "We know it's a personal question," he continued as he shot Lillian a look.

"They're gone," he finally said and his voice made Lillian want to cry again. It held such _sadness_. "You and Jack are all the family I have now."

Lillian turned in Pitch's lap and wrapped her arms around him. She motioned Jack over and Jack hesitated for a moment and then wrapped his arms around Pitch too.

It was the first hug he had initiated in so, so long. It was also the first hug he could remember ever giving as a spirit that didn't involve Lillian.

Lillian looked up at Pitch, her eyes filled with a warmth that Pitch was not yet accustomed to seeing.

"You're a good dad," she whispered.

Pitch would never admit it, but his eyes became a little damp too.

* * *

When the sky was turning light with dawn, Sandy was finally free to go to the North Pole and visit North. He was surprised to see the other Guardians there, but perhaps he shouldn't have been.

Since everything that had started a few days before Easter, they had been spending so much time together.

He waved merrily at them and floated over. They were gathered in chairs around the fireplace, sipping hot chocolate.

Sandy helped himself to some eggnog and a cookie from an elf and settled himself down.

"Alrigh'," Bunny said as he swirled a small carrot around in a mug. "So we gotta save the little anklebiter from Pitch."

Sandy rolled his eyes and waved his hand to get their attention.

Bunny shot Sandy an annoyed look and Sandy leveled a serious gaze right back at Bunny. Bunny broke away first and took a drink out of his mug.

Sandy waited until he had Bunny's attention again and then he began to explain all about what had happened when he ran into Jack the night before.

He explained all about what Jack had told him, how Pitch was the first person Lillian had met as a spirit and how the two of them had waited all night for the Guardians to come for her - and how they never did.

All the Guardians shifted a little guiltily at that, and Bunny suddenly remembered the day that the moonlight had shone on the symbol for Spring. How could they not have known?

Sandy also explained how Pitch took her in and how it seemed like he took Jack in too. He explained how Pitch, Jack and Lillian were a family now.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Bunny exploded. "If they're a.. a.. _family_ , then why were Jack and Lillian all turned _evil?_ "

Sandy shrugged at first, then looked thoughtful. He recalled how Pitch had to be healed by Manny too.

He explained as best he could that perhaps not _all_ of Pitch was evil? But something had seemed to make the boogeyman worse than normal. But Manny helped him out, so maybe he wasn't the same Pitch they knew anymore?

Bunny huffed as he drained his mug and set it aside, crossing his arms once it was set safely down.

"So you are saying, Pitch has family now?" North asked Sandy.

Sandy nodded.

"Ah, so it would be bad to take Spring Spirit and Jack Frost away from him then. Would cause problems?"

Sandy nodded again and gave North a thumbs up.

"What will we do about Jack and Lillian?" Tooth asked, her wings fluttering a little nervously as she sat. "They're believers, but their belief is so weak."

Bunny muttered something about Pitch darkly that the others ignored.

North frowned as he thought.

"We should do something to help their belief, but what? Easter was not so long ago, and we treated Jack very badly. Is not easy to forget or forgive."

A golden Christmas tree appeared above Sandy's head.

North smiled fondly at his friend.

"Yes, is important to give the two of them best Christmas ever! But is long time from now, my friend. There must be something we can do in meantime, no?"

As the Guardians continued to plot, they were unaware that the two spirits they were talking about were getting ready for their day.

* * *

Jack had spent the night for the first time ever at Pitch's that night. It had been a little strange for him to sleep in any sort of bed, but even a bed in one of Pitch's guest rooms was very soft. He was surprised that when he woke up, there was an oil lamp burning merrily away.

Jack had remembered falling asleep in the darkness, but without the moon or stars to brighten things up, it had been a little creepy.

He remembered feeling a little afraid before the sleepiness had overcome him. He smiled as he sat up and stretched. Pitch must have sensed his fear and left the lamp for him. He got up and looked around. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before, but he spotted some fresh ones laid out for him.

He blinked as he looked them over.

Handmade brown pants complete with a black hoodie that had snowflakes embroidered on it.

He reached out to touch the material and found it to be very soft. With a soft smile, he changed into the fresh clothes and neatly folded his old ones and set it on the bed after he had made it. He found his staff in the corner where he left it and set about seeing if Lillian was up for the day yet.

He found Lillian in her bed in her room yet, tangled in the covers, her hair mussed from sleep.

She laid in bed perfectly comfortable for all of thirty seconds before a snowball to the face rudely woke her up.

"Wha?!" she squeaked as she woke up, snow dripping down her face.

Jack smirked at her in response.

"Jack!" Lillian said. "Oh that is _it!_ "

In the very early morning, Pitch awoke to an all out war in his globe room. He had wandered in, still half asleep and an unfortunate snowball had flown right into his face.

Lillian and Jack both halted in mid-throw to stare at Pitch in horror.

"I trust," he said in a low, dangerous tone with snow dripping down his face, "that there is a good reason there is a rather large pile of _snow_ in this room?"

Lillian and Jack both took in Pitch's expression and gulped.

* * *

Author's Note: I just had to throw in some of Jack and Lillian being silly to make up for all the sadness. Plus Jack doesn't want Lillian to dwell on her sad memories and what better way to distract someone than a snowball fight? Anyone have any suggestions for Pitch's punishment on the two naughty spirits? Heh. Oh, and to the reviewer who wanted Jack to see Lillian's memories and his reaction to it. Well, in the movie only Jack could see his memories, so I'm guessing that only the person can view their own memories, so.. nope. Besides, Jack was looking at his own memories at the same time. And yes, he will dwell on them later, it's just Lillian was so sad, so he had to cheer her up a bit.

The next chapter might feature a letter to Santa to help the Guardians out (depending upon how the chapter goes) and will have some family moments between Pitch, Jack and Lillian. I'm toying with the idea of Jack just moving in with Pitch and Lillian, since he's there all the time anyway. Any thoughts on that? Or should Jack just continue to live at his lake? I'm also thinking that he (or Lillian or both) should have some run-ins with the other seasonal spirits. I've mentioned the fall spirit, Jasper, in one chapter and the former spring spirit, but haven't yet mentioned the summer spirit. Oh well, we'll see. Anyway, if you have any ideas for future plot or anything, feel free to let me know!


	29. Chapter 29: Home Sweet Home & Dear Santa

Author's Note: Ok, I admit it! I couldn't wait to post the next chapter so I didn't wait very long for punishment ideas.. Ahem! But anyway, while the idea of forcing Jack to crossdress (and match Lillian's outfit) would be very funny, I can't see Pitch doing that. And while having Pitch go all drill sergeant on them would be funny too, it didn't quite seem to fit the crime here. So I acknowledged that punishment, but decided not to go with it at this time. _However,_ I will remember it for a future punishment (since really, with Jack around, it's inevitable). As for Jack dressing up, while I won't have Pitch force him to crossdress, I can see Pitch forcing Jack into a ridiculous outfit (hideously ugly, yet formal sweater that Jack _hates_ ) just for the heck of it. So expect that in the near future! :)

Now without further ado, the next chapter!

 **Edit:** I posted this chapter super fast! So if you haven't read Chapter Twenty-Eight yet, go do it! Otherwise Jack and Lillian's doom won't make any sense!

Chapter Twenty Nine: Home Sweet Home & Dear Santa, You're Mean

Pitch glared at the two spirits menacingly as they shared looks of doom with each other.

They were _so_ doomed.

"Hm? What was that? I can't hear you," Pitch continued as he wiped the slush from the snowball off his face.

"Uh.." Jack began nervously, as obviously ninety-nine percent of this was his fault.

"We didn't mean to," Lillian began nervously. It wasn't so long ago that Pitch was being very strange, and she wasn't quite sure how this new non-gray Pitch would react. Sure, he had been great last night when he was comforting her, but this was a totally different situation.

Nothing like testing the boundaries right off the bat.

"I believe I know what you meant to say," Pitch continued, his voice still soft and dangerous. "You were going to tell me that you wanted to clean up all this mess _immediately_ \- "

"Oh yes!" Lillian cut in. "I can do it super fast - "

" -With no magic," Pitch continued as if Lillian hadn't interrupted him.

Jack's jaw dropped.

 _No magic?_

"That'll take forever!" he blurted out suddenly.

"That would be the point," Pitch said, sounding irritated. "Perhaps it will teach you little hooligans not to turn this room into your own personal snow globe."

"I'm not a hooligan!" Lillian exclaimed, looking very offended.

Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow at her.

"Really? Because from what I understand, well behaved children _don't_ have snowball fights in their home. Well behaved children keep their rooms clean as well. Now, that certainly wouldn't include _you,_ would it?"

Lillian's face fell at that and she looked down at her shoes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling horrible. She knew better, she really did. It's just that Jack woke her up with a snowball and she felt the urge to retaliate.. When they had rushed into the globe room, Jack had accidentally (maybe on purpose) made it snow and they hadn't thought about how their noise would wake Pitch...

"I'll accept your apology after this snow is cleared out. After that, I want you both to mop this floor, and then Lillian, _clean your room_ after breakfast. If you both do this without complaint, I'll consider not grounding you and not making you do something more.. physical, such as pushups."

"Pushups?!" Jack exclaimed.

Pitch gave Jack a look, and Jack blushed.

"Uh.. I mean.. thanks.. for reconsidering..?" he floundered. "But you know," Jack said as he recovered with a smirk, "you can't ground me since I don't live here."

Pitch's eyes narrowed as he stalked toward Jack.

Jack gulped and tried to move away, but Pitch grabbed him by his hood.

"Then maybe we should rectify that, hm?" Pitch said with a glare at Jack as he shook Jack's hood a little.

"Wh-what?" Jack said, looking a little scared and stunned.

"You have gone long enough without any sort of guidance," Pitch continued to glare at Jack sternly. "Hundreds of years of you left to your own devices with no one to punish you for your wrongdoings or praise you for your good deeds. I can see now from this little display of yours," Pitch gestured at all the snow, "that this needs to change."

Jack glanced over at Lillian for help, but as she had no clue what Pitch was talking about, she shrugged helplessly back at him.

"So..?" Jack asked.

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"I did say that both you and Lillian are family, did I not?"

"Yeah..?" Jack said, looking bewildered.

"Usually families live together, don't they?" Pitch said, sounding a little exasperated. Honestly, was the boy _that_ dense?

Jack froze, staring at Pitch in disbelief.

"Wh.. what?" he asked, sounding stunned. "You want me..?"

Pitch finally released Jack's hood and looked away, suddenly looking a little vulnerable.

"I understand if you don't feel the same.."

Jack suddenly grinned and wrapped Pitch in a spontaneous hug.

"That's great!" he exclaimed.

"Yay!" Lillian jumped up and down happily. "We'll be a _real_ family!"

Pitch looked at Jack fondly, with a little relief in his eyes. He wasn't sure what suddenly made him doubt that Jack would want to stay with them, but something kept telling him that this was all too good to be true - that the other shoe would drop.

Jack pulled away from Pitch and grinned cheekily at him.

"So, should I call you 'Dad' now?"

Pitch rolled his eyes again, but there was a smile tugging at his lips.

"If you want, _son_ ," he said sarcastically, "but first I believe you have some cleaning to do."

With that, he turned and walked out of the room, not noticing the grins that were fading on two child spirits.

"How are we supposed to clean this?" Lillian called out after Pitch, but he didn't answer.

Over an hour and one shopping trip later, both Jack and Lillian had shovels and had successfully moved all the snow into a heaping pile beneath Pitch's entrance. Lillian looked up at the daunting pile that seemed to be mocking them.

"Now what do we do with it?" she asked as she looked up at it.

"Well.." Jack tilted his head at the pile. The idea that this would make an excellent little sledding hill occurred to him, but the thought of what sort of punishment _that_ would entail stopped that thought in its tracks. It wouldn't be worth it, and he still had a play date later that day with Jamie. "Pitch said we couldn't use magic, but I think he meant to melt the snow or magic it away. I think he'd understand if I asked the wind to help us out. Wind can lift us up so we can sort of shovel the snow out of here."

Lillian let out an exasperated sigh.

"That'll take forever too!" she said. "AND I still have to clean my room, and we haven't even had breakfast yet! And my arms are tired!"

"What do you want to do then?" he asked her, sounding a little exasperated himself.

"Here," Lillian said as she walked over to the snow pile. She placed her palm flat on the snow and her bracelet began to glow.

In a matter of minutes, the snow pile melted down into nothing and the floor was covered with water.

Jack glanced at Lillian a little nervously.

"Didn't.. didn't Pitch say..?"

"We've been at this long enough," Lillian said with an eye roll worthy of Pitch. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him. Now all we have to do is get some warm water so he won't be suspicious and then mop the floor and then all we have to do is clean my room."

Jack scratched the back of his head, looking apologetic.

"I think you mean that _you_ will clean your room." he said.

Lillian pouted, giving Jack her best puppy dog eyes.

"You won't help me?"

Jack shook his head.

"You're on your own for this one, kiddo. I promised Jamie that I'd visit with him today."

"..Oh.." Lillian said, looking hurt. Of course Jack would want to hang out with _believers_ more than her.

"Hey, don't worry," Jack said ruffling her curls. "We can play later on when I get home."

Lillian nodded and wandered off to get the mop.

* * *

"Well," Bunny said. "I still don't like 'em with Pitch, but I can offer them a tour of the Warren? They saw it last Easter, but.. eh.."

Sandy shook his head, and Tooth agreed.

"It's a nice thought Bunny, but I think it might be too soon for that. It'll probably remind Jack of Easter, and.." she winced at the thought.

Bunny nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, I thoughtta that too. Maybe we could invite 'em to the Pole?"

Everyone looked at North, who stroked his beard and nodded, thinking of all the possibilities. He wanted to see the wonder on their faces as they looked at his workshop. Since they were _spirits_ , giving them a peek wouldn't be too much of a problem.

"Ah, but how do we know they will accept invitation? Is sad to say, but they might not trust us to return them safely." he said with a sigh.

"We could go to them," Tooth volunteered, then deflated. "..But we don't know where they live."

"Da, all we know is that they sometimes hang around that lake near Burgess. Is not much to go on." North confirmed.

As the day wore on, the Guardians continued to plot, each new idea sounding more hopeless than the last.

* * *

Finally, at around noon, Jack and Lillian had finished cleaning and drying off the floor in the globe room. It gleamed as much as rock could, and Jack had departed to go have fun with Jamie.

Meanwhile, a gloomy Lillian had trudged off to her room, dragging her feet as if prolonging the trip would delay the inevitable hours of cleaning she was about to do.

She vowed that she would _never_ let her room get that messy again.

Jack flew out of Pitch's lair and headed towards his lake first. He wasn't surprised to see Jamie there by himself, sliding around on the lake in his shoes.

Grinning, Jack knew there was one snowball fight that wouldn't get him into trouble. He swooped down and gathered up a handful of snow, while holding his staff in the crook of his arm. Once he he had his ammo ready, he flew over to Jamie and nailed him right in the face with the snowball.

Jack burst out laughing at the look on Jamie's face as he landed on the lake nearby him.

"No fair!" Jamie said, laughing too.

"Everything's fair in a snowball fight," Jack grinned at him.

Jamie's smile faded a bit as he looked at Jack more seriously.

"..I thought.. I thought this all might've been a dream."

Jack shook his head and ruffled Jamie's hair a bit.

"It feels like one to me, but I'm pretty sure whatever you saw was real." Jack answered.

"You don't remember?" Jamie tilted his head in confusion at Jack.

Jack shrugged.

"Not really," he said. "I remember waking up on the lake and you and the kids were all around me. Before that, it's.. sort of blurry."

"..Oh," Jamie said, sounding a little disappointed. But then he thought about what had happened before the lake and thought that maybe it was a good thing that Jack didn't remember. It had sounded like Jack and Lillian were in a lot of pain, so maybe it was good that they had forgotten that part.

"Now no more sad faces!" Jack exclaimed. "You didn't come out here just to _talk_ with me, did you?"

"W-wait!" Jamie said, in a rush. "You and uh.. Lillian.. you two know Pitch, right? The boogeyman?"

"Yeah," Jack said cautiously. "Why?"

"Oh!" Jamie blushed a little, looking embarrassed. "I was just wondering why you guys care about him so much. He's supposed to be bad, right? He's the one that gives all the kids nightmares. And he tried to take over the world."

Take over the world?

Jack definitely didn't remember..

Then he remembered Pitch's offer in Antarctica, and the very gray and black Lillian..

Jack's expression grew somber at that, and Jamie was definitely starting to regret bringing up what was obviously such a delicate subject for him.

Before Jamie could say anything however, Jack shook his head and a smirk fixed itself on his face.

"I told you before," he explained, "Pitch helped us out when no other spirit would. He's taken care of Lillian from the moment she became a spirit. It might seem weird to anyone else, but he's sort of like our dad. He might've.. gotten a bit.. uh.. _more_ evil, but the Man in the Moon fixed all that. He's back to being just Pitch now. And Pitch doesn't want to rule the world. He uses his fear to balance things out."

Jamie realized his jaw had dropped and he snapped it shut.

"Pitch.. The _Boogeyman_ is your dad?" Jamie asked, sounding awed.

"Not literally," Jack explained. "But in an adoptive sense.. yes."

"Wow," Jamie said, wide-eyed. He couldn't wait to tell all his friends!

"Now," Jack said as his smirk widened. "About that snowball fight.."

* * *

A few days later, Lillian had had enough. Sure, Jack was being silly and playful as he usually was, but it was in those moments that they weren't playing, was when she noticed that he had this sad look in his eyes.

One time, she had playfully mentioned one of the Guardians as a joke, and Jack had instantly clammed up. He had put his hood up and said that he had to go clean his room. Since Jack only owned a few pairs of clothes besides the original hoodie and pants he owned, Lillian knew this was just an excuse.

She was pleased that Jack had gotten a more permanent room (other than the guest room) right next to hers, and his was nearly identical, except for the fact that his room was made more for an adult or teenager, as his bed was higher off the ground.

But the fact remained was that something was wrong with _her_ Jack, and she knew it had something to do with the Guardians. Without any way to contact them however (and with Pitch expressly forbidding them to go out at night as who _knows_ what they would get up to), that left their means of communication very limited.

Lillian however, was determined, and at last she remembered something she could do.

Kids wrote letters to Santa.

Even though it was not long after Easter, and was still firmly Spring, she had settled herself at her rock table one afternoon and hastily wrote out her letter:

 _Dear Santa,_

 _Stop being mean to Jack! I know you and the other Guardians did something to make him sad and I want you to stop. He hasn't been himself since that day at the lake when he and I woke up with the moon shining brightly. He tries to pretend that everything is fine, but I can tell it's not. I know normally kids write you letters to ask you for stuff for Christmas, so I'll tell you what I want for Christmas._

 _I want you and the Guardians to make Jack happy again. I don't need anything else, as Jack and I already got the best present this year. We got our Pitch back to normal and we have a dad._

 _I know Jack likes Sandy the best, so maybe you could have him come visit Jack. We aren't allowed outside at night anymore (I can go sometimes, since I have to deliver Spring all over), so it would be best if Sandy can come visit before nightfall. I know he's really busy spreading dreams, so why doesn't he come this weekend? I'll make sure Jack's at his lake, since I don't think Pitch would want Sandy visiting his lair._

 _I hope you make this right and fix Jack._

 _Love,_

 _Lillian, the Child of Spring_

 _P.S. Tell the Tooth Fairy I said hi! And tell the Easter Bunny not to be so grumpy all the time. It makes him look mean._

Lillian looked over her letter with satisfaction and neatly folded it, placing it into an envelope. She very quietly left her room and went to go mail her letter.

* * *

A few days later, a very surprised North had Phil barging into his office, brandishing a letter.

"Phil!" North exclaimed as yet another ice creation was smashed by the sudden barging in. "How many times must I - "

But Phil wasn't having any of it. He shoved the letter under North's nose and jabbed a claw at the return address.

North blinked and looked down at the letter.

In ink, clearly written was _Lillian, Child of Spring; Pitch's Lair, Burgess_.

North blinked again.

" _Pitch's..!_ " he exclaimed in surprise.

Phil gave North a very disgruntled look and only left once he was certain that North was reading the letter.

"Hmm.." North said as he set the letter down after reading it. "Perhaps invitation will not go amiss after all..? If Sandy were deliver.."

With a sudden grin, North went to get some paper and a calligraphy pen. He was going to make these invitations in style.

* * *

Author's Note: I know I might be rushing things a bit (or not, seeing as how long Pitch, Jack and Lillian have been friendly), but I just couldn't resist Pitch having Jack live with them. I thought that in a few chapters I might have this nice mushy scene with Jack and Pitch, being all serious, but then I realized that Pitch most likely wouldn't ask Jack all nicely to come live with him. I have to admit, it was very amusing to think of Pitch threatening Jack to live with him _or else,_ but having that really just be an excuse for Pitch to have Jack live with them. Sadly, Jack didn't have anything to move into Pitch's lair other than himself or his staff.

I also managed to sneak a little Phil in there and Lillian's letter to Santa! I'm not entirely sure what to do about this invitation to the Pole though. It sorta came out of nowhere. The more optimistic part of me wants Pitch to tag along and be super awkward, but then I don't know if Pitch would even want them going, and would Jack _want_ to go? If Sandy was do the asking, maybe..? If you guys have any ideas to help me along, that would be nice. Otherwise, I'm sure I'll come up with something. I'm SUPER excited to post Chapter 30, so I will make that one a super extra long chapter just because it is 30! :) I might even post it up on Friday, but don't hold me to that.


	30. Chapter 30: We're Sorry

Author's Note: Ok, so this chapter is long for me (over 4k in words!) but probably not quite the longest? But it has PLOT and the Guardians with Jack, Lillian and Pitch! I want to thank everyone for their awesome suggestions on what I could do with them. I was seriously at a loss at the end of the next chapter on how to begin this one, but thanks to you guys, I figured out what I wanted to do. I know I said I probably wasn't updating until Friday, but I was just SO excited to do the 30th chapter! I'm also extremely proud of how this all turned out, so I hope you guys like it too.

Chapter Thirty: We're Sorry

It didn't take long for Jack to be officially moved into Pitch's lair. Considering he owned next to nothing, it literally took him no time at all to have his very few possessions moved in. His room thoughtfully had a peg on the wall for him to hang his staff and Jack loved sharing all his meals with Pitch and Lillian.

Now more than ever, they felt like a family. Jack sometimes felt like a child with an overprotective dad though, since Pitch felt the urge to pick out all of Jack's clothes. Perhaps Pitch had noticed that Jack had only one set of clothes, because somehow Jack kept finding new sweaters and pants set out for him every day. Jack had a suspicion that Pitch was actually preparing for Jack to move in for a very long time.

Considering the fact that all his clothes were clearly handmade, Jack was _certain_ of it. So it was soon Saturday that Jack had gotten up and saw what new sweater Pitch had made for him.

Jack rolled his eyes when he saw it. It was a trademark blue hoodie, but it had a big design on the front that suspiciously looked like Frosty the Snowman. The snowman had a big grin, a top hat with a flower in it, and lots of snowflakes all around. But even though it definitely qualified for an ugly sweater contest, Jack had a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he put it on. Not only had Pitch thoughtfully made him new clothes to wear every day, but for the first time ever as a spirit, he now had pajamas.

As he finished getting dressed, Jack felt a warmth spreading in his heart. He never really quite knew all he was missing out on by essentially being a homeless spirit. Now not only did he have a family, but he had his very own room and all the little things that came with it. Perhaps he didn't have as many possessions as others might have, but he had something much greater.

Finishing getting ready for the day, Jack quickly brushed a comb through his hair and grabbed up his staff. He was especially happy today as Lillian was _finally_ done being grounded and they could go out and play. Even though spring was supposed to be coming, Jack had managed to hear through the grapevine that the Groundhog had seen his shadow, and it didn't take much to convince Lillian that winter could go on a liiittle longer. His Winter Wind had whispered to him about how spring should be coming soon, but for just a little longer, Burgess was a winter wonderland.

Jamie had been estatic about all the extra snow, as had his friends. Jack had given Jamie his promised snow day and had played with him frequently while Lillian was grounded, much to Lillian's dismay. Lillian had groaned and whined and complained, but she had picked up her messy room all by herself and now it was back to looking just as clean as it used to, with all of her things neatly put away.

Jack left his room and with a rush of his Wind through the lair, he laughed as he flew right into Lillian's room. Lillian, who was still in bed, groaned as she felt the winter chill in the air.

She loved having Jack living with them, but his wakeup calls seriously sucked. She was either woken up by his freezing wind or a snowball to the face, and _why_ did he have to be even more of an early riser than she was? Jack, who was used to living outdoors was quite used to getting up with the sun and therefore thought that Lillian should be too.

That, and Jack literally couldn't sit still for five minutes and he would get bored. So to avoid getting in trouble (seriously, he couldn't even make it snow a _little_ in his room?), he would go wake up Lillian to play with him.

"Jaaaack," Lillian whined as the Wind rushed in. "It's too eaaarlyyy.."

Jack laughed at his friend as she tried to burrow back under the covers.

"It's not early, it's late!" he said happily.

Lillian cracked an eye open to glare at him, and noticed he already had a snowball ready to fire should she decide to try and go back to sleep.

"It's not even eight in the morning," she grumbled. "Is the sun even up yet?"

But Jack ignored her usual grumbling and left when he saw that she was finally getting up.

So it was that they spent a typical day together. It wasn't long before Pitch was also awake and they had breakfast and then it was off to outside to play, with Pitch warning them about causing mischief and the reminder that it was firmly Spring now so _no more snow._

The last thing he needed was that wretched Pooka bothering him about how Spring had not yet come.

Lillian hadn't wanted to go into town that day, so she and Jack spent a happy day playing around Jack's lake and generally having a lot of fun. Jack noticed though that despite all the fun they were having, that Lillian would stop every once in awhile and glance around, as if she were looking for something.

When it was getting close to sunset, Jack had almost had enough. Lillian seemed pretty nervous and kept casting anxious glances around. What was going on?

As he opened his mouth to finally ask however, he was distracted by a golden glow. His eyes lit up and a grin found its way on his face.

Sandy!

Lillian noticed Sandy too, and thankfully Jack was too distracted by his arrival to notice the look of relief on Lillian's face. It was going to be dark soon, and Pitch would want them home.

Sandy was on his usual golden cloud of dreamsand and landed by the two seasonal spirits. He grinned happily at them both and waved.

"Hi Sandy!" Lillian said happily, glad that her letter had been received and that her plan was working out.

Sandy nodded at the pair and held up two envelopes. He floated over and handed one to Jack, then Lillian.

Lillian looked down at her envelope curiously, as did Jack.

"What's this?" Jack asked, but Sandy just gestured at the envelopes.

Lillian noticed that hers had her name written on the envelope in a fancy script. She opened it up to see a little card and written in the same fancy script was an invitation.

It said:

 _You are cordially invited to the North Pole for an evening of wonder and excitement! This includes a tour of the Workshop as well as dinner with the Guardians. If you accept, please follow Sandy. The party is scheduled for tonight!_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Nicholas St. North_

Jack nearly face palmed at the invitation. It was for that very night? It was nearly past their curfew! Not to mention there obviously wasn't an invitation for Pitch, despite his and Lillian's claims that the boogeyman was now a big part of their lives. Jack felt indignation of Pitch's behalf. Surely their adoptive parent should be invited as well?

Before he could bring it up however, Lillian had happily accepted the invitation for the both of them.

"I call shotgun on Sandy's plane!" she cried, as Sandy formed said plane.

She raced forward and hopped into the passenger seat, looking over at Jack with excited eyes.

"Come on, Jack! We can see _Santa's Workshop!_ "

Jack tried to look serious, he didn't really want to meet with the Guardians just yet, but Lillian's excitement was contagious. Just the thought of seeing _Santa's_ Workshop had him feeling giddy and very much like a kid on Christmas.

He bit his lip, trying to hide his smile and looked over at Sandy.

Sandy waved at Jack to come on and started up his plane.

With a feeling of excitement mixed with dread, Jack followed after Sandy's golden plane.

* * *

North was excitedly calling out orders to the yetis as they raced around putting up last minute decorations and generally making North's Workshop look as absolutely wonderful as possible.

All the other Guardians had already arrived and were offering up suggestions on what North could have for decorations that would appeal to the two child spirits.

"I think you could use something more wintery," Tooth called out inbetween giving orders to her fairies.

"Nah mate, you need more spring!" Bunny said. "You got winter comin' out of yer ears, but the little lass is gonna feel left out!"

"You heard them!" North jovially called out to an aggravated Phil.

Phil, who didn't know which way to turn, was trying to pin up snowflakes and flowers in turn and somehow had managed to get tape and glitter all over his fur. He shot North a glare worthy of Pitch, but North didn't seem to notice.

The rushing went into overdrive when they heard Sandy's plane approaching. Soon it would be time to see if they could do as Lillian ordered - fix Jack and make him happy again.

Sandy's plane came in for a landing in the globe room and he and Lillian both got out of the plane, which soon dissolved into sparkles of dreamsand. Jack reluctantly flew in afterwards.

Bunny gave Tooth a hopeful look as he could feel the hope building in Jack. Jack might not be as happy as Lillian liked, but the kid still had some hope left and they could work with that.

North grinned as he made his way over. He could practically see the Wonder rolling off of them in waves.

"Welcome to Pole!" North said to the two spirits. "I am glad you accept invitation! Is exciting, no?"

"No! I mean, yes! Yes!" Lillian said, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her eyes practically glowing green in excitement. It was only through her concentrated effort that her spring powers weren't going haywire in her excitement.

Jack looked more subdued than his friend and he shot Bunny an anxious look.

Bunny hid a wince at that. He knew he had hurt Jack most of all. He could still feel that awful, empty feeling as Jack's hope had been shattered that day. Bunny had been so distraught about the children not believing in him anymore that he had unintentionally hurt Jack. Hurt him badly.

The other Guardians had as well, but Bunny was the main culprit. They should have given him a chance to explain.

"Ah.. Listen, maybe we oughtta talk about some things first," Bunny said, shooting Jack a guilty look.

Jack studiously avoided looking the Guardians in the eyes as Lillian looked highly confused. She had missed that part of Easter. The Guardians had talked about it a little that day on Jack's lake, but there was too much going on at the time and she hadn't taken notice of it.

"Aren't we going to see the Workshop?" Lillian asked with a note of disappointment.

"Oh we will Sweetie!" Tooth hastily reassured the child spirit. "But we need to straighten things out with Jack first?"

Lillian tilted her head, then recalled how Jack arrived at the Pole.

"Are you gonna say you're sorry for shoving Jack in a sack and kidnapping him?" she asked innocently.

Bunny winced. He forgot that the sheila had no idea what they did. Hoo boy.

"Why don't you two come sit by us and we'll explain," Tooth said gently, gesturing to some seats near where she and Bunny were seated.

Sandy happily accepted a mug of eggnog and made his way over to the couch, where he sat near Bunny. North sat in an armchair, while Jack and Lillian hesitantly came over by them.

Jack however, chose to remain standing as the seats were too close to the fire for him. Lillian looked at all the very guilty looking Guardians and opted to stand with Jack, the excited look sliding off her face.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

Bunny winced again. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"What do you remember of that day, sheila?" Bunny asked her.

Lillian thought back for a moment.

"Umm.. Pitch wasn't being himself," she recalled. "Jack had showed up with Baby Tooth and Pitch was being really mean to him. I think I was feeling kinda weird? Then I don't really remember anything until I woke up at Jack's lake."

"Well.." Tooth started. "You and Jack helped us paint all those eggs for Easter in Bunny's Warren, remember?"

Lillian tilted her head, looking thoughtful. She _kinda_ remembered.

"Then you and Jack offered to take Sophie home," she continued.

"Da!" North agreed. "While you were gone, Pitch's Nightmares attacked while we were trying to get eggs to surface. Not one egg made it."

Jack flinched at that, and hugged his staff close to himself as he bowed his head. His white locks hung down over his eyes, obscuring his expression. He looked like the epitome of a guilty, scolded child and it broke the Guardians' hearts to see him so down. The fact that he was hugging his staff like a teddy bear was not lost on them.

Sandy, who had not been there for that terrible Easter, looked at the Guardians with a stony expression not suited to him. He recalled that they had explained a little that day at the lake, but now he had a feeling he was about to get a much more detailed explanation - and that he wasn't going to like it.

He knew that they all needed to clear the air, but he wished their little party didn't have to start off on such a melancholy note. He hoped that all the fun they had planned would make up for it. Otherwise he knew that they might lose their two blue lights forever. Their belief was so weak right now that if anything damaged their beliefs further, their lights would go out.

Lillian's eyes widened at this revelation.

"Not one?" she breathed.

"..No.." Bunny said sadly. "And uh, Jack came back without you or Baby Tooth. Right when some kids walked through me.. They didn't believe in me anymore."

Lillian gasped at that. She knew exactly how awful it was to be walked through. She knew how horribly empty inside it made you feel. It made you feel like less than nothing.

"What happened?" she asked.

Bunny shifted guiltily in his seat.

"You hafta understand, he was all by himself and holding his tooth case. It.. it looked very bad."

Jack started to tremble a little bit, and Sandy shot a glance at the globe. One of the blue lights was blinking and was so dim that he knew it was only a matter of moments before it went out forever.

Lillian noticed Jack's distress and patted him on the arm, as his hands were full at the moment, hugging his staff close.

"We didn't know what Jack had just been through," Tooth said sadly. "We assumed the worst."

Bunny nodded glumly and continued the narrative.

"We said some really hurtful things ta him. Accused him of betrayin' us."

His green eyes fixed on Jack, who wouldn't look at them to see their sorrow and guilt.

"We were wrong.. So wrong." Bunny continued. "Especially me. We know we can't even begin ta make it up ta you, mate. But we hope that this party.. well.. it'll be a start."

Jack's knuckles whitened as he clutched his staff like a lifeline. So they were apologizing again. This is what this was all about. He had a feeling it would be. He still felt so hurt from that terrible Easter, and by what had followed after the Guardians had dismissed him.

He wasn't sure if an apology would be enough. He wasn't sure what to do.

Sandy glared harshly at his fellow Guardians and crossed his arms angrily as he set his mug down.

North, Tooth and Bunny for their parts looked extremely guilty.

"We are so sorry, Jack. _Please.._ Please, believe us. We didn't mean to hurt you like that. It was so wrong of us not to even listen to you." Tooth said as tears filled her eyes.

North nodded his agreement.

"Even as Guardians, we make mistakes. We hope you will someday forgive us, but we understand if you do not."

Lillian looked torn as she regarded all the Guardians. She had been upset at some of them still (especially Bunny) over how Jack had been manhandled to the Pole. She hadn't even expected something like this.

Her light on the globe began to blink too as uncertainty set in. She looked up at Jack worriedly as he had yet to move or say anything to anyone.

"Jack..?" she said softly.

Jack didn't know what to think. He had wanted the Guardians to apologize. He had felt so lost after their rejection and he would have given _anything_ to have them welcome him back. Now here was his chance to be friends with them all again, but he didn't know if he wanted it.

He didn't think he could handle it if they rejected him again.

"..I.." he said hesitantly.

"Maybe this wasn't the best time for a party," Tooth said sadly.

Jack reeled back, his head snapping up to stare at the Guardians. They could see the raw hurt pooling in his eyes.

Sandy gave a silent gasp as Jack's light blinked off the globe.

 _No!_

"You don't want us anymore?" Lillian said, her tone sounding hurt.

Her light wavered, nearly out.

"Of course we want ya," Bunny said sadly to them. "You're our friends. We want ya ta realize that. We understand if ya don't want ta be our friends anymore, but we love ya."

Jack's light flashed on and Sandy breathed a sigh of relief as he realized Jack's light was still flickering and had taken an extra long flick to come back on.

"You hurt Jack," Lillian stated. "Even after all he did to help you."

"We know," Bunny gave them a tortured look. "We know we have a lot ta make up for."

Lillian regarded them solemnly, her light still wavering on the edge of belief.

"Will you take us away?" she asked. "Or will you let us stay with Pitch?"

The Guardians all exchanged uneasy glances. They still weren't sure about Pitch, but they could tell that this was Lillian's test for them. If they failed, they knew that the children spirits' belief would fail and that they would forever lose their chance with Jack and Lillian.

"We know that Manny helped him," Tooth said, ever the peace maker. "And.. we don't want to upset you, so we'll let you go where you want."

Bunny looked for a moment like he wanted to argue, but then he deflated. He hurt them, and he didn't have any right to demand where they went or who they lived with. Even if it was with that ratbag.

Lillian blinked. She hadn't expected that at all. She had fully expected Bunny to start ranting about how evil Pitch was and offer up his Warren yet again. She looked at their woebegone expressions and then up at Jack.

"Jack?" she asked.

Jack looked surprised as well. He had been thinking right along the same lines as Lillian. He carefully looked from one Guardian to the next. All of them seemed genuinely apologetic.

"..I guess.." he started, but then stopped as he noticed the gathering darkness in the globe room.

His eyes widened as he heard a very familiar voice.

"Well, well.. What do we have here?"

Pitch's golden eyes glared out at them as he stepped out of a shadow.

* * *

While Jack and Lillian were traveling to the Pole, Pitch was pacing around the lair. He had to leave very soon to go spread his usual nightmares, and those two spirits of his had yet to come home and they _knew_ they had to be home by nightfall, no exceptions.

As the darkness fell outside, Pitch's temper rose. Not only did Jack have issues not leaving snow all over the lair, but those two living together were more trouble than he realized.

He began grumbling to himself as he continued pacing and started feeling the first flickers of unease.

What if something had happened to them?

What could happen to them?

Pitch knew that he wasn't the only dark spirit out there. There were all kinds of horrors waiting to prey on two unsuspecting, innocent spirits.

He shuddered to think what could happen to them.

But where could they be?

After ten more minutes of worrying, he started using the shadows to look around outside. After checking their usual hangouts, he started expanding his search area.

An hour later an extremely worried Pitch finally thought of the Guardians. Would Jack and Lillian go see them?

Deciding that this was his one last, desperate hope, he disappeared into a shadow and peeked out at the North Pole.

What he saw had him seething in fury.

There they were, _his_ Jack and Lillian, with the Guardians! He could clearly see that both Jack and Lillian were very upset as well and he couldn't resist stepping through to the globe room.

Oh, they better have one _hell_ of a good explanation!

* * *

Jack and Lillian exchanged panicked looks as Pitch suddenly appeared in the globe room.

"Pitch!" Bunny cried out as he stood.

The Guardians all rose, drawing out their weapons automatically.

Lillian was the first to say something about it.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted at them.

They looked cowed as she angrily glared at them, and sheepishly put their weapons away.

Whoops. Old habits died hard.

Pitch folded his arms and gave Jack and Lillian a very angry, pointed look.

"Ah.." North said, rubbing the back of his head. "What are you doing here?"

Pitch turned his icy gaze onto the Guardians.

"Funny you should ask," he said. "I was sitting in my lair, wondering where two very naughty spirits had gotten to, as I _clearly_ told them to be home before dark. It occurred to me that something terrible could have happened to them, so I began to search."

Lillian squirmed guiltily at that.

"Pitch - " she started, apologetically, but Pitch ignored her.

"After checking their usual places they hang about, I began to look in other places around the world. Perhaps Lillian had finally learned some responsibility and was spreading Spring. After visiting a few dozen countries, I quickly realized that this wasn't the case."

"We didn't - " Jack tried, but Pitch barreled on, not listening.

"After I began to despair that some despicable spirit had kidnapped them, it finally occurred to me that perhaps, just _perhaps_ they could be here, with you. And to my immense surprise, what do I find?"

Here Pitch shot Jack and Lillian a very angry look.

"We're sorry!" Lillian blurted out, looking extremely guilty. "Sandy gave us an invitation to the North Pole for a party!"

"A party," Pitch said flatly.

"Y-yeah," Jack stammered. "We.. we didn't think - "

Pitch interrupted.

"Clearly, you did not."

The Guardians all exchanged shocked looks.

 _Pitch Black_ had been worried about Jack and Lillian? And here he was scolding the pair of them like.. like their _parent!_

"Are we grounded?" Lillian asked in a small voice.

The Guardians all looked shocked at how _young_ she sounded.

"Do we have to leave?" Jack asked, sounding equally as young, and equally as disappointed.

Pitch's non-existent eyebrow rose as he regarded first Jack and Lillian, and then the Guardians.

The Guardians all looked flabbergasted. Here was the evidence that Lillian had been telling the truth all along. Pitch was different with them. Pitch looked out for them.

Pitch _cared_ about them.

"Maybe.." North said, trying to come up with some sort of solution. "..Maybe.. you all stay for dinner?"

Pitch took in the varying degrees of shock on the Guardians' faces (whether it was over him or North's offer, he wasn't quite sure) to the look of eager hopefulness on Jack and Lillian.

He rolled his eyes in response.

"I suppose," he drawled, "If I decline, that I'll never hear the end of how two children were _this_ close to seeing _Santa's_ Workshop and then had to leave."

Bunny could feel the hope radiating off of Jack and Lillian at Pitch's words, and was hard pressed to hide his grin.

"We can stay?" Lillian asked, hardly believing her ears.

"Only," Pitch said glaring at them, "if you promise never to do this ever again. I won't go through this again. _And_ ," he added before they could start apologizing again or protesting, "you are both grounded for two weeks with _no magic._ Do I make myself clear?"

Pitch's authoritative tone rang out in the room, and the Guardians had trouble trying to keep their jaws from hitting the floor.

Pitch sounded just like a parent!

A grin lit up Jack's face, only to fade a bit as he glanced at the Guardians.

"Excellent!" North said, clapping his hands together. "Let us put unpleasantness behind us, da? We can have tour of workshop and then dinner!"

Hardly believing that they were about to have a dinner party with _Pitch Black_ , the Guardians all rose to their feet and followed after two very excited spirits and North off to the workshop.

* * *

Author's Note: Sooo.. what did you think? I really was going to have happy fun times, but I realized that the Guardians needed to clear the air more with Jack. Then Pitch had to come along, so now the party is postponed until the next chapter. How super awkward do you think THIS is going to be with Pitch there? If you guys have any party suggestions or any suggestions in general, I'm more than welcome to them. I am most likely going to update tomorrow anyway, since I REALLY want to do this party. I could use some suggestions for what could come AFTER the party though.

Anywho, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thanks to all the faves, follows and especially reviews! :)


	31. Chapter 31: Awkward Turtle

Author's Note: Oh man, I had SO much fun writing this. Thanks to all of your guys' wonderful ideas, I had absolutely no problem writing this chapter out. Thanks to all the follows, faves and reviews! I'm glad that everyone is having as much fun as I am with this story. The rest of the dinner party will continue in the next chapter. _However,_ since I gave you a whopping _three_ chapters in one week, I'm going to take a break next week. My next post probably won't come until next weekend or after, since I'm going to be super busy again..

Anyway! On with the chapter!

 **This is a new chapter, updated within a day of the other one. If you haven't read the Super Special Chapter Thirty of Awesome, then go back and read that one first!**

Chapter Thirty-One: Awkward Turtle

Pitch's eye twitched as he trailed behind Jack and Lillian, who were eagerly following North.

Pitch could feel the Pooka's eyes on him and just _knew_ that overgrown rabbit was glaring at him heatedly. The rest of the Guardians were following him, and he could practically feel the hatred radiating off of Bunnymund.

Pitch put up with it for all of a minute before he slowed his walking speed to trail behind a bit, yet still keep Jack and Lillian in sight. It wouldn't do to have _his_ spirits wander off due to an inattentive North.

Once he was certain that Jack, Lillian and North were out of hearing range, Pitch whirled around to face Bunnymund suddenly, his black cloak flaring dramatically in a move that Severus Snape would be proud of.

" _What_ is your problem?" Pitch hissed at Bunny, golden eyes narrowing to glare right back at him.

Bunny stopped in his tracks and stared at Pitch for a moment, stunned. Then he actually growled at Pitch, glaring more harshly at the dark spirit.

"Are you seriously askin' this?" Bunny said, disbelief etched in every syllable. "You may have Jack and Lillian fooled, but - "

Sandy cut Bunny off as Bunny's voice started to rise. He floated up to be more on eye level with Bunny and shook his finger admonishingly at the Pooka. They weren't here to fight after all.

Bunny huffed and grumbled something that they couldn't quite make out, as Sandy lowered himself back to the ground.

Pitch took a deep breath as his face darkened. For a frightening moment, he looked every bit like the old Pitch Black, minus the gray skin tone. His voice took on a soft, dangerous edge that almost had Bunny drawing out his boomerangs.

"Listen here, you overgrown excuse for a _Kangaroo_ ," Pitch started as Bunny's eyes widened.

 _Kanga-!_ What?!

"I heard your pathetic excuse for an apology to _my_ Jack as well as your little explanation* and if you EVER do anything to hurt him like that again, there won't be any safe place for your or you so-called 'Guardians' to hide. I don't know why those _two_ child spirits believe in ANY of you, but somehow they still do. You say you protect Hope, Wonder, innocence? Well, actions speak louder than words and what do yours prove?"

"M-my..!" Bunny glared more at Pitch. "What about _your_ \- "

"So we are perfectly clear," Pitch raised his voice a little to talk over Bunny, cutting him off again. "As long as my children believe in you and want your company, you _will_ control that temper of yours or I will give you nightmares that will make grown men weep. I will make all of your nights a living hell that you _wish_ the Sandman would be able to alleviate. You want to see how defensible that Warren is of yours? _Don't tempt me._ "

Pitch drew in a deep, steadying breath and spoke in a less dangerous, more calm tone.

"If, however, you prove that you do have some sort of sense in that pea brain of yours, then you have nothing to fear. We may never be friends, but all I ask is that you remain civil, for Jack's and Lillian's sake. If you wish to regain their trust, then don't put me down to them."

Pitch let his gaze drift from Bunny to Tooth, and then Sandy.

"The same goes for the rest of you. I trust you will pass this message along to North, when he's not entertaining."

Pitch smirked at them and then turned, casually strolling more quickly to catch up with the tour group.

Bunny balled his paws into fists and looked as if he would like nothing more than to dearly clonk Pitch good and hard in the back of his head with a well-placed boomerang.

Sandy exchanged a significant look with Tooth, who nodded back. She had caught it as well.

 _My children._

Who knew Pitch had such a protective streak in him?

* * *

North happily rambled on about his Workshop as he guided Jack and Lillian around, pointing out various contraptions and toys in the making. There were yetis running all around, many of them in the process of making or painting toys and some of the toys were moving around as they were tested.

Jack ducked as a toy plane flew close overhead and grinned at Lillian. There were decorations sparkling all over the walls, some winter white snow flakes and some various spring flowers all covered in silvery glitter.

Lillian goggled at all the yetis, but looked confused as well.

"I thought the elves made the toys," she said softly to Jack.

North, who had excellent hearing, chuckled loudly at this.

"We let them think that," North said in a stage whisper as he spotted a group of elves electrocuting themselves and eating paste. "Good job! Keep up good work!"

Lillian giggled at the silly elves, muffling her giggles with her hands.

North eyed the two children, a mischievous glint coming into his eyes.

"You two look as if you have very creative minds. How would you like to create toys of your very own?"

Lillian looked as if her every dream had just come true and Jack wasn't far behind.

"Jack can make ice prototypes for yetis, and then you two can help paint. It will help pass time as dinner is being made, da? Phil can help you while I get everything ready." North continued and then looked around for said yeti. "Phil? Phil! Come help Jack and Lillian create toys!"

A disgruntled Phil lumbered over, looking extra sparkly, wearing half the glitter he had used for decorating. Thankfully he had at least managed to get the tape out of his fur. He gave both Jack and Lillian _don't even think about it_ looks as they grinned widely at his appearance.

Phil grumbled something in yetish to the two and gestured them over to a cluttered, yet unoccupied work table.

Jack and Lillian eagerly followed after, hearts soaring with joy at the thought of getting to create their very own toys in _Santa's_ Workshop. As their hope and wonder increased, so did their belief and their lights stopped blinking. Firmly distracted from thoughts of that horrible Easter, their blue lights glowed more brightly on the globe.

Bunny's glare at Pitch dimmed and then died as he felt the ever increasing hope. His green eyes flickered to where the two children were now conspiring with one another, heads bent together as they discussed toy ideas. A smile tugged at his lips in spite of himself as he watched the two being exactly what they were: over-excited children.

Bunny got to enjoy this view with everyone for all of thirty seconds before North was calling out to them.

"Guardians and Pitch! Why don't you follow me to dining room? You can sit and get acquainted with one another while I see to dinner!"

Bunny looked as if he would love nothing more than to protest, but Lillian turned around, hearing the loud request.

"Yeah, go away!" she said merrily to Bunny. "Our toys are a _surprise!_ "

Looking a little taken aback, Bunny had no choice but to follow after a reluctant Pitch with an anxious Tooth and happy Sandy trailing behind.

* * *

The three remaining Guardians and Pitch were soon seated around a large dining table, while pots and pans clanked in the background as North exercised his culinary skills.

"I do not hear talking!" North called out jovially to them, and Bunny crossed his arms sulkily.

Tooth glanced at Pitch, who was seated across the table from the three of them. Pitch sat straight in his seat, feeling as if he were sitting more for a job interview than having dinner with 'friends' of his children.

"Perhaps," Pitch finally said after a very awkward and lengthy silence, "you would care to illuminate me as to how all your.. spreading joy and wonder is going, hmm? Any eggs you've painted? Teeth you've collect - "

Tooth cut Pitch off as her eyes lit up in excitement.

"Oh I just _have_ to tell you all about this lateral incisor that Baby Tooth collected the other day!" Tooth exclaimed.

Before Pitch could even think of a reply to this, Tooth was off, her mouth running a mile a minute as she described in lengthy detail how _perfect_ this baby tooth was. It was the child's very first lost tooth after all, and how could anything be more precious than that?

Pitch could think of several things in fact, that were far more precious than a simple tooth, but in order to keep the peace he nodded along with Tooth's long-windedness and said things like "Mmhm" and "You don't say!" as she paused minutely for breath.

Bunny was mildly impressed despite himself, at Pitch's ability to look interested in what Tooth was saying and pretending to listen to her. He glanced at Sandy, who had at first been nodding along as well and now, after ten excruciating minutes, looked about ready to fall asleep while he sat.

As Tooth paused again, Pitch hastily interrupted her.

"My, how fascinating!" Pitch said with a smile. His eyes, while not exactly _warm_ at least held none of their earlier hostility. He turned towards Sandy and inquired about Sandy's dreams.

Sandy chose to take the question at face value as he woke up a bit more, rather than the insult or barb it could have been. Golden symbols flashed over head: A sleeping child, a smiley face and a thumbs up.

Pitch nodded, understanding that Sandy was basically indicating that dreams were going well again. His gaze slid over to the pouting kangaroo, and he smirked.

"Eggs all painted?" he casually asked the Pooka.

Bunny's face darkened as he remembered all the smashed eggs.

"You know very well - " Bunny shouted, but North's voice drifted out from the kitchen to interrupt.

"Ah ah! Am I hearing fighting?" he boomed out as the sound of something sizzling came soon afterwards.

Bunny quieted down at that, going silent for a very long, tense moment.

Finally he grumbled out:

"I'm nearly done cleanin' out all the tunnels. I don't hafta really get down to painting yet, since I have a little less than a year till Easter."

Then he looked at Pitch daringly.

"How's the nightmares comin' along? Havin' fun scaring innocent children to tears?"

Pitch allowed a small, genuine smile at this as he leaned forward. Nobody ever asked him to talk about his work, not even Lillian and Jack would sit still long enough to actually listen. Even if it was the Pooka and the Guardians doing the listening, he was going to enjoy this.

"Funny you should ask. Just the other night I had the pleasure of visiting a little boy in Dimmsdale. Jack had told me about him in passing before. Apparently the child has been having quite a few troubles with some school bullies. I managed to catch him before someone else - " here he allowed a small smirk at Sandy, who raised an eyebrow back at him silently - "and gave him one of my very best nightmares. Normally I would leave after this, but I confess that I was quite curious what this boy would dream. Jack has taken quite a liking to him, as he has a very wild imagination."

Tooth realized her jaw had dropped, but she couldn't _believe_ it. Not only were they having a civil conversation with _Pitch Black_ , but he was.. was.. happy! His eyes lit up in a way they had never seen and a smile played around at the corners of his mouth as he talked about giving the boy a nightmare. Apparently Pitch loved his work as much as any of them. Who knew?

Pitch continued his story, too caught up in the details of it to notice Tooth's astonishment. Sandy calmly nodded along as he drank his usual mug of eggnog. Bunny was nothing short of glowering. After all, Pitch was _gloating_ about spreading nightmares. Gloating! In front of them! The Guardians!

"This proved itself to be true as I watched the nightmare unfold. He was dreaming of course, that he was in school and this bully was chasing after him. I thought perhaps that if his fears came true, he would eventually find a way of overpowering the bully, giving him the confidence to do so in real life. But instead of using his wits, the boy whipped out a goldfish bowl and commanded his two pet goldfish to attack the bully. The fish glowed pink and green respectively and then suddenly morphed into piranha who flew out of the bowl and proceeded to bite the bully repeatedly on his posterior. The boy immediately keeled over in a fit of giggles and eventually woke himself up from laughing. Since I was watching all this unfold from the shadows, he was none the wiser."

Pitch shook his head fondly, as Tooth came out of her daze.

"W-wait a minute," she said, wonder in her tone, "you gave a boy nightmares to _help_ him?"

Pitch rolled his eyes at the looks on their faces. _Honestly_.

"Why else would I do so? Like you, my occupation does actually serve a purpose. Fear creates a delicate balance, after all. Too much and it is quite unproductive. Too little and it has no impact. But just the right amount - " he indicated with a sweep of his hand, "will help a child to realize that their fears are just that - nightmares that can be overcome. Everyone has a fear and while some are silly, most are those that with the proper amount of encouragement, can be defeated. For with fear, there must also come courage. The courage to defeat the fear."

Sandy's eyes widened with wonder at Pitch's heartfelt speech. He sounded exactly like them, like a _Guardian._ Was this why Manny had helped Pitch?

Before any of them could comment on what Pitch had said, North's voice cried out from the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready!"

* * *

*Pitch had apparently been listening in on the conversation between the Guardians, Jack and Lillian before his darkly dramatic entrance.

Author's Note: So while this chapter wasn't as long as the other one, I still feel like it had some significant revelations in there at the end as the Guardians realized that this is _not_ the evil Pitch Black they all knew. And yes, I know that most of them are continually surprised at this Pitch, but it will most likely continue. They've had centuries of evil Pitch, and it will take them quite awhile to realize that Pitch is no longer their enemy.

I know that the suggestion about Pitch's nightmares being helpful probably wasn't to further this point, but I snuck plot in there anyway! Oh, and you all get extra points if you get my not-so-subtle cartoon reference there. ;)

I also know what Jack and Lillian's prototypes will be for toys. They will be something that won't be finished in this night in the story, so it will give an excuse to have North invite them back - that is, if Pitch will allow them to come back.

So what do you guys think about the plot? You think the Guardians can get along with Pitch for the sake of Jack and Lillian? Do you think Bunny will be able to overcome his hatred?

I want to hear your thoughts and ideas! After all, some variation of them is most likely to be in the story at some point. You guys tend to think of things I don't. :)

 **Edit:** Oh, and double extra bonus points for those who can figure out what Jack's and Lillian's toys will be! Hints are that Jack's has to do with winter (of course) and Lillian's is more thoughtful and serious, showing her maturity and reminding the Guardians that while she might _look_ like a child, she is older than she seems at times.


	32. Chapter 32: Dinner

Author's Note: This chapter doesn't have too much going on. It's the rest of the Guardians' dinner with Pitch, Jack and Lillian and we get to see Jack and Lillian's toy prototypes. It isn't terribly plot intensive, but it sets things up for later chapters, what with making the toys and all.

As for reviews.. CrossoverJunkie gets the extra points for correctly guessing my cartoon reference in the last chapter, but he missed out on those elusive bonus points for not guessing Jack's and Lillian's toys correctly. I suppose I cheated a little on Lillian's toy, since it's not exactly a _toy.._ Anyway! A reviewer also suggested that Bunny put his foot in his mouth some more and yell at Pitch in front of everyone. I had this in mind when I was writing the chapter, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I do like teasing Bunny, but his relationship is already so damaged with Jack and Lillian that I didn't want to make it so that they would NEVER like him. It will take Bunny a looong time to stop being antagonizing around Pitch though, so don't worry, the drama isn't done.

Nobody else had any suggestions/guesses, but that's alright. Also, since I updated a little sooner than planned, you can expect another chapter tomorrow. I have no idea what to include in it.. Maybe some seasonal spirit fun? Maybe hanging with Bunny or the other Guardians. Plot suggestions are welcome, as I'm not quite ready to have everyone rush off to defeat any new bad guys. That will come in later chapters.

And thanks for all the follows and faves. You guys rock.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Dinner

North's voice rang out from the kitchen, soon followed by North himself, laden down with plates. He carefully set out a large platter of roast chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. He had to return to the kitchen for the gravy, but he soon set that out as well.

He wasn't certain what Jack, Lillian or even Pitch preferred, so he went with a classic. For Bunny, he set out a special tossed salad with lots of carrots in it and made sure that there was enough for everyone, if they wanted. He then set out empty plates and glasses.

North looked pleased at all he had made, and then noticed that two spirits were missing. He glanced at Pitch, who seemed the obvious choice, but then thought better of it. He took in the other Guardians, and noticed that Sandy seemed rather happy as did Tooth, but Bunny looked disgruntled.

Hmmm..

"Ah, Bunny!" North said with a twinkle in his eye. "Would you get Jack and Lillian for dinner?"

Bunny looked surprised at the suggestion.

"Me?" he shot Pitch a look, "Why not ask _him?_ He's supposed to be their... uh.." he trailed off, as he failed to think of a good word to describe Pitch's relationship with Jack and Lillian.

"I believe the term you're looking for is father, parental figure.." Pitch smirked at Bunny especially. "..Guardian."

Tooth's eyes widened at the term, and she shot Sandy a look. Sandy smiled at that and finished off his eggnog.

"G-Guard-?!" Bunny spluttered. "Now wait just a - "

"Bunny!" North interrupted, shooting Bunny a disapproving look. "Dinner will get cold and Jack and Lillian are hungry, no?"

Bunny stood at that, although he shot Pitch one last glare.

"..Right," Bunny muttered to North, as he stalked off.

Bunny soon returned, with Jack and Lillian in tow and it looked like the three of them were arguing.

"You peeked!" Lillian scolded him for what apparently was the millionth time.

Bunny threw his arms up into the air, clearly aggravated. Apparently North's idea for bonding time with the three wasn't exactly working out.

"For the last time sheila, I didn't see anythin'! You didn't have much anyway, just some book - "

Hurt flashed across Lillian's face as Bunny said that.

"It's more than a _book_ \- " she said, her tone giving away her hurt.

Bunny glanced back at her, as he was in the lead. He noticed Jack was silently fuming at him and Lillian was looking like Bunny had just kicked her. He sighed softly as he took in the sight.

It was _not_ his night.

Jack took a seat next to Pitch once they got into the dining room and Lillian took a seat on the other side of Pitch, closer to North and as far as she could from Bunny.

Bunny shot Sandy a look, and Sandy nodded gravely. Bunny was all about Easter and Spring, so it really shouldn't be so hard for him to be on good terms with the Spirit of Spring, but Bunny's temper kept getting the better of him. Bunny had gotten along great with Leif, the previous Spring Spirit. As a Guardian, getting along with a child spirit should be a piece of cake, but he somehow kept putting his foot in his mouth.

It was pretty embarrassing.

Soon everyone was seated and North indicated that they should all start helping themselves. Pitch helped fill Lillian's and much to his embarrassment, Jack's plate. He gave each an extra large helping of green beans and a small salad - mostly just to aggravate Bunny a little, since he had correctly deduced that the salad was for Bunny.

Soon everyone was eating the dinner, the Guardians chatting a little about work and nothing much in particular.

North noticed that his guests were being rather quiet, and so he boomed out suddenly to them.

"Jack, Lillian! You having fun making toys? What have you decided to make, hm?"

Lillian jumped at North's sudden loudness and Pitch had to whack her on the back, as she accidentally swallowed a rather large piece of chicken. She took a big drink of her milk and gestured at Jack while she recovered.

Jack, who had been looking a little upset still, grinned at North.

"I only have a prototype right now, but Phil said he'll help me work out the technical aspects of it." Jack said proudly. "I'm making a - "

"Wait wait wait!" Lillian interrupted as she finished drinking her milk. "We should do a proper presentation after dinner! It's going to take us a long time to make them though," she told North.

"Is no problem!" North said happily. "You three are welcome back at Pole at any time."

Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow at that.

The _three_ of them, hm?

He shot a sly glance at Bunny and was unsurprised to see that Bunny was looking annoyed at North.

"That's very kind of you," he told North. "I'm certain that Jack and Lillian will take advantage of your offer after they're done being grounded."

Lillian pouted at that.

"Grounded?! But.. but.."

Pitch shot her a stern look.

"I believe we already worked this out. Now eat your dinner before it gets cold."

Lillian harrumphed in a Bunny-like fashion and reluctantly went back to eating. Jack chuckled, much to Lillian's annoyance and she wrinkled her nose at it.

However, Lillian couldn't stay silent for long as she glanced at Pitch.

"Hey Pitch," she said as she finished some of her chicken, avoiding her salad and green beans like any child would.

Pitch, who didn't look surprised at all at the interruption, glanced at her.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Why don't you make a toy too?" she asked him in her innocent, child-like fashion. Even though she was much older now, she still had a tendency to do that sometimes.

Pitch, who had been about to eat some of his green beans, paused with his fork halfway to his mouth.

" _What?_ " he asked, sounding incredulous. "..Me?"

Lillian nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! Then you can come with Jack and I. It'll be a lot of fun," she added on with a grin over at Jack.

Jack shook his head at Lillian.

"What would the _Boogeyman_ make?" he asked her.

"Umm.." Lillian looked thoughtful. "He could make a night light that says 'Boo!'"

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"You do realize that in order to properly frighten children it's probably best that they don't have a night light?"

"It could be cute!" Lillian insisted. "It can look like you, and come with a little story book that's all about The Boogeyman, but how you're not totally evil."

Pitch's expression softened a little as he realized what Lillian was trying to do. He set his fork down and reached over to ruffle her hair.

"You don't have to worry about me," he said gently to her. "I am perfectly capable of getting my own believers."

Bunny snorted at that, but didn't make any comments as North shot him a look. He knew better than to get on North's bad side.

Jack spoke up next.

"You could make some kind of a toy though," he put in. "You're pretty good at sewing anyway. Maybe you could make a stuffed animal."

Pitch looked like he was thinking about rolling his eyes again, but Lillian looked enthused.

"Yeah! We can all come back after Jack and I aren't grounded anymore. Or maybe you could come here by yourself!"

Pitch looked quite hesitant at that, but before the Guardians could comment on that, Tooth spoke up about something else.

"You sew?" she asked, trying not to sound rude, but she could NOT believe that Pitch could sew.

"Well - " Pitch started, but Lillian interrupted.

"Pitch makes all our clothes," she said as everyone stared incredulously at Pitch.

Pitch, uncomfortable with so much attention, went back to eating his dinner. It was quite the sight, an embarrassed Pitch. It was yet another side of him that the Guardian's hadn't seen before.

After that, the conversation drifted off to Lillian's and Jack's seasonal duties. Bunny of course, started it off by asking Lillian about spring.

"Ya know, it's gettin' ta be late in the season," he said in a casual tone to Lillian, but Lillian looked offended anyway.

"No it's not," she said firmly to Bunny. "Besides, Jamie asked Jack for _one_ more snow day. We've had late springs before, and the Groundhog saw his shadow. That means six more weeks of Winter."

Bunny frowned at her.

"Yeah, which would mean somethin' if it were still February. In case ya hadn't noticed sheila, it's April."

Lillian rolled her eyes at him.

"Jack can make the snow go away whenever he wants, and I can help it melt. Plus it's supposed to rain a lot in April anyway. Jeez, you're no fun," she complained to Bunny.

Pitch shook his head as he recovered from his earlier embarrassment.

"I've been telling her that you would disapprove of the late Spring," Pitch said conversationally to Bunny. "But she refused to listen."

Bunny didn't really know what to say to this, and he shot Lillian a hurt look.

"..Ya.. ya really think I'm no fun?" he asked Lillian.

"You yell a lot," Lillian said as she toyed with her green beans. "And you always look grumpy, except on Easter."

Pitch shifted guiltily in his seat, as did Jack. This Easter, Bunny was more than grumpy.

"Ya just.. haven't seen me in a good moment." Bunny said a little lamely.

This seemed to end the conversation as everyone finished up dinner. The Guardians all looked amused, as they had to wait for Lillian to finish off her green beans and salad. It seemed like a typical family meal, with lots of bargaining (" _One_ more bite?"), whining and threats from Pitch.

Finally however, the meal was finished and North had the table cleared.

"Should we go into globe room for presentation?" he asked everyone.

They seemed agreeable, and soon everyone was gathered into the globe room.

"Jack should go first," Lillian announced.

Jack grinned a bit at that, and proudly displayed a miniature ice version of the toy he was going to create - with Phil's help.

"It's an automatic snowball thrower," he said as he displayed his ice creation proudly. "You pull this trigger here, and it shoots out snowballs! The best part is that it's going to be heat-seeking, for the kids who have terrible aim. It'll be a blast!"

Jack demonstrated by pulling the trigger and a small ice cube shot out from it.

Pitch looked at the thing curiously.

"So, essentially, you'll have a snowball bazooka, hm? Instead of nerf toys, you'll load it with snowballs?"

Jack nodded enthusiastically.

"It'll make snowball fights more interesting! Jamie would _love_ it."

North chuckled appreciatively at it.

"That is very smart, Jack. Never have I heard of such a toy before. Children will love it! But you must be certain that snow balls do not shoot out too fast, da?"

Jack nodded.

"It's going to take a lot of work, but I'm sure the other yetis and Phil can help me out."

"In the meantime," Pitch said with a smirk, "you have a rather interesting way of dispensing ice cubes into drinks."

Jack's eyes lit up and Pitch wanted to face palm. _Why_ did he have to give the boy ideas?!

"You are _not_ going to use that in the lair. Especially not at meal times."

Jack pouted at that and Lillian giggled.

"Lillian," Tooth smiled at her. "What's your toy idea?"

Lillian smiled proudly as she stood in front of the couches and chairs where everyone was seated.

"My idea is more than just a toy," she said. She held up a painting she had done that had a book with the symbols for all the seasons on it: A Spring Flower, A Sun, A Leaf and a Snowflake. "It's a story book for kids," she continued.

Bunny blinked as he looked at Lillian's picture. The kid was.. good. Really good. He could tell from the picture that she wanted the book to seem like an old book of fairy tales. The sort of book that families treasured and passed down through the generations. If he had to hazard a guess from the color, he'd say that the book was supposed to be leather bound with the symbols on the front, carved out in gold.

Tooth smiled at her.

"Kids love stories. What's yours going to be about?" she asked.

Lillian beamed at the praise and shot Bunny a smug look as if to say 'See? I told you so!'

"It's about the Seasons, or rather, the Seasonal Spirits. There's a lot of stories about the Guardians, but nobody knows much about other spirits. I wanna write a bunch of stories about the different Seasonals. First it'll start off with Spring, then Summer, Fall and Winter. If it works out, then we'll all have a bunch of new believers."

Jack looked surprised as Lillian hadn't told him much about her idea. In fact, he'd been rather absorbed in creating his own prototype and hadn't paid her much attention once they'd stopped scheming.

"There's already a lot of stories about Jack Frost," she added. "But none of them have gotten it right! I also want to paint the pictures and have all the Seasonals' pictures in it - how they really look. If it works out, maybe I can make a series of it and put down some of my and Jack's adventures.

Jack's grin slipped as he shot Pitch an anxious look, something that Pitch immediately noticed but didn't comment on.

Sandy waved his hand and a golden picture of a sun and leaf appeared above his head followed by a question mark.

"That's a good point," Bunny said as he noticed what Sandy was trying to say. "Do ya know enough about the other seasonal spirits ta make stories about 'em? You want it ta be accurate."

Lillian shifted from foot to foot. She hadn't thought about that.

"Weeell.. I guess I could ask Jasper, the fall Spirit, about some things if I go by myself. I haven't really met the Summer seasonal yet. Is she nice?" Lillian looked inquisitively at Bunny, and Bunny inwardly rejoiced, then deflated. He didn't know the Summer seasonal very well.

"Ah.. well.. I heard he can be a bit of a hot head," Bunny said as he tried to recall what little he knew about the spirit. "His name's August Bay. I wouldn't recommend callin' him 'Augie'."

Lillian nodded, but then giggled.

" _August?_ For a summer spirit?"

North chuckled.

"Spring Spirit before you was called Leif. Seems someone is having fun with names! Perhaps next Fall Spirit will be June."

Lillian giggled more at that.

"Anyway, that's my idea." she concluded as everyone exclaimed over her idea. It was different. Both of their ideas were different. Nobody had ever thought of them before.

"Ya know," Bunny said trying his very best to sound natural (and not grumpy), "I know all about paintin' and such. If ya wanted.. ya could come to my Warren when ya want to paint yer pictures. I have a lot of different paints."

Lillian's grin faded and she looked at Pitch a little anxiously.

Pitch came to her rescue, as she obviously wanted him to.

"That's a generous offer," he said smoothly to Bunny. "Should she decide to take you up on it, we'll be in touch."

Bunny looked a little deflated at that. He hadn't meant for Pitch to be involved at all in the offer. Lillian's unease around him also hurt. Had they really messed up that badly? Would he _ever_ be able to have a normal relationship with the two kids?

When Lillian began to yawn, Pitch announced that it was time for them to go. Sandy made the suggestion of a sand plane to take Jack and Lillian home, while Pitch shook his head.

"I'm more than capable - " he started, but Lillian bounded over and took a hold of Jack's and Pitch's hands.

She grinned mischievously at them as her bracelet started to glow.

"You guys haven't ever traveled my way!"

Pitch shot an alarmed look at Lillian and Jack looked equally as alarmed.

"Lillian," Jack said nervously. "It's a really long way - "

"I don't think - " Pitch began.

Lillian ignored the both of them as she grinned at the Guardians.

"Byeee! Thanks for all the fun!" she said to them.

"You'll have to - " North started to speak, but stopped as a HUGE flower grew up behind Pitch, Jack and Lillian.

The Guardians all stared as the flower opened wide and _ate_ the three spirits. The last thing they heard was Pitch's startled cry.

"Well," North chuckled. "Is one way to make exit."

* * *

Author's Note: I couldn't help it! There was a suggestion for the Guardians to experience Lillian's way of traveling, but then I realized that Jack and Pitch never had the pleasure either. :P I can't decide if they should appear back in the lair or make some side trips throughout the world. I would imagine that it would be pretty far for Lillian to go in one shot.

So what do you guys think of Jack's toy? Don't ask me where the idea came from.. It just popped up out of nowhere. But the idea of a heat-seeking snowball bazooka thinger is really amusing to me. I'm not sure if there would really be a market for it, but I'll have to have Jamie and Friends try it out at some point. What do you guys think of Lillian's idea? It's really just an excuse for her to try and get more believers for Jack - but she didn't want the other Seasonals left out either. I'm not really sure how Lillian having more believers will impact her life. She's never minded too much that kids couldn't normally see her, as she's always had Jack and Pitch.

I'm not sure what the next chapter will contain, but it _will_ have Pitch, Jack and Lillian/Guardians interacting. Do you think Pitch should take up North's offer of tagging along? Also, SHOULD Pitch make his own toy? I suppose it could be a way of showing the Guardians a different side of Pitch. Should he also tag along if Lillian decides to visit the Warren?

Let me know your ideas! And stay tuned as another update will be TOMORROW for sure!

 **Edit:** My tired brain forgot to add that I also really like the idea of North deciding to trust Pitch out of all of them. It's North's party for one, but he also seems more like the type to take a chance on Pitch than anybody else. After all, who knows better who's _really_ Naughty or Nice? Plus poor Pitch needs at least ONE of the Guardians in his corner. Tooth and Sandy seem to be coming around (Sandy most of all) at least. Bunny.. eh. Well. He's Bunny and to him, Pitch is still a ratbag. Since he's determined to _not_ see how Pitch has changed, he'll probably continue to misread things Pitch says. (For instance, when he thought Pitch was gloating in the last chapter.)


	33. Chapter 33: Grounding,Stories & Exercise

Author's Note: Ok, I inadvertently lied again. This chapter had none of any toy making, or visits with the Guardians. It ran away on me, I swear! I guess you can actually call this "Grounding, Part 1," but I liked my original title for this chapter anyway. This chapter made me feel all mushy too. And since I was more awake writing it, I felt better about how it turned out. I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter though.

Now, on to reviews! I had a blast from the past when I got a review for Chapter 7, which actually was more about Chapter.. 4? When Jack was all tuckered out in '68, when the Guardians were scolding him. I sent the reviewer a PM, but I thought I would mention it here as well, in case I wasn't clear enough. Jack can spread snow pretty well, but he can also make it disappear as he did on that day in '68. It's VERY draining for him to do so though, but he felt he had a lot to make up for, since it was his fault his powers got away from him. So that's why he was so weak when the Guardians were confronting him. Jack had spent the entire day removing so much snow and hadn't had any time to rest yet.

There was a suggestion for Pitch to teach Jack and Lillian self defense. While I totally forgot about it when writing this chapter, I'll definitely including something in the next chapter, which is probably going to be something like "Grounding, Pt 2."

There was another suggestion that Pitch make his own doll and storybook to go along with it. Let me just tell you guys that Pitch WILL make some toys. He WILL visit North's, but probably not without Jack and Lillian at first. I already know precisely what toys he's going to make now (thank you lots of time to think about this today), but I still welcome any suggestions.

Another reviewer felt bad for Bunny, and I do too. So there will be some Bunny in the next chapter somewhere hopefully. Anywho, thanks for all the follows, faves and reviews. Now on with the story!

Chapter Thirty-Three: Grounding, Stories and Exercise; Oh My!

In Canada, a small sprout sprung up from the whiteness of the snow. A small child stared at this fast growing flower with wide eyes. Not only was this flower growing in _snow_ , but it was also growing right out of the sidewalk!

Word hadn't yet spread about Jack outside of Burgess, and while Pitch had some children quaking in their boots at the thought of the Boogeyman, truthfully, not a lot of children really believed in him. Kids were more afraid of ghosts or other mythological creatures than in the Boogeyman specifically, and parents were more than happy to reassure their children that there was no such thing as the Boogeyman. So while Pitch spread his nightmares, he usually didn't have to worry about being seen. He could vaguely recall how this used to bother him a great deal (alone for _centuries_ and hated by most of the spirit world made for a very lonely Pitch), but then Lillian and Jack had entered his life and then it didn't seem to be as important to him.

So as the child watched the flower grow impossibly fast and _big_ , he failed to notice that the flower spit out three spirits right into the snow.

PATOOEY!

The flower spit out Pitch, Lillian and Jack onto the snowy sidewalk. Much to his embarrassment, Pitch face planted right into the snow.

Jack sat up and shook the his head, getting the snow out of his hair.

"Oww," he complained. "You seriously have to work on those landings."

Lillian sat up in the snow and shivered.

"Where.. where are we?" she looked around. This definitely didn't look like Burgess.

Pitch got to his feet and helped Jack and Lillian stand as well. He wiped the slush from his face as the child gaped at the flower that was now rapidly shrinking back into the snow. Within a matter of moments it had completely vanished. The child looked around to see if anyone else had witnessed this phenomenon, but nobody else had noticed.

Pitch looked around as well, and after some looking, he spotted a sign.

"My guess would be Toronto, Canada." he said with a look at Lillian. "Didn't I tell you that it was too far? You know that we could have been home by now if we had traveled through the shadows."

Lillian pouted at that.

"Going through the shadows makes me cold and it's kinda creepy," she said. "Flowering is more interesting!" she smiled as she used her strange term for traveling via The Giant Flower of Doom.

"Interesting or not, you aren't very experienced in traveling such long distances. Even when you spread spring around the world, you still have to make several stops to get to the country you want to visit, don't you?" Pitch said, entering Adult Mode and sounding like he meant Business.

The child, not really noticed by the spirits, wandered over to where the flower had been and began to dig a little in the snow. He looked disappointed when all he saw was plain ol' sidewalk.

Lillian huffed in annoyance. Pitch just didn't understand. Besides, what better way to remind the Guardians that she had powers as well? She'd never admit it, but she liked showing off for the Guardians. It made her feel a little like a kid shouting at her parents 'Look what I can do!'

Jack made sure he had his staff.

"We're not that far from Burgess. We could just fly there through the wind."

Pitch, who had noticed Lillian shivering, shook his head.

"No, I think you two have had enough for one night," he said as he took a hold of Lillian's and Jack's hands.

He lead the two over to the shadow of a large building and Lillian's loud "Aww!" could be heard as the three vanished inside the shadow.

A mere moment later, they left a shadow in the corner of the globe room. Pitch gave Lillian a look that said 'See? That's how it's done.'

Lillian pointedly ignored Pitch, but she had to fight down a grin. Pitch was paying attention to them! He cared!

She was pretty sure she would never get over the feeling that Pitch actually _cared_ again.

"As you two have both had dinner and it's getting late, I think you should head to bed," Pitch said.

Lillian's faint grin immediately vanished.

"I'm not tired!" she whined in a very childlike fashion.

Pitch was almost expecting her to stomp her foot and cross her arms as she used to do.

"Young lady," he said in a warning tone to Lillian.

"I can tell her a story," Jack said quickly. He didn't want Lillian to get into even _more_ trouble or she'd never be allowed back to North's! Or the Warren, if she felt like visiting Bunny.

Pitch nodded at Jack.

"That's fine, as long as she's in bed."

Disappointment flashed on Lillian's face.

"Won't you tell me a story?" she asked Pitch quietly, all traces of sullenness gone.

Guilt tore at Pitch as vague flashes of Easter plagued him. He remembered the explanation of what had happened and it wasn't pretty. He had helped _ruin_ Easter, and had essentially let Jack take the blame. The Guardians might have been unfair, but it really was all Pitch's fault.

And Lillian.. What had happened to her when he was.. whatever had happened to him. All three of them had needed to be healed by the Man in the Moon. Whatever it was, all three of them had been so far gone that the Guardians hadn't been able to help them.

Pitch had a horrible feeling that he was solely responsible for whatever had happened to Jack and Lillian.

Anguish crossed Pitch's face for a moment, before he carefully concealed his emotions as he was so good at doing.

"Of.. of course," he said quickly, only faltering a little. "I should have offered. I didn't think of it."

It felt like it had been a very long time since he had read Lillian a story, or told her a made up one.

A huge grin appeared as Lillian's eyes lit up.

"Yay! I'll get ready!" she exclaimed as she ran off to her room.

Pitch shook his head with a small smile and noticed Jack was still standing there, essentially doing the same thing that Pitch was doing.

However adult-like Jack might feel at times, the fact remained that he was still a child too.

"You get ready too," Pitch reminded Jack.

Jack ducked his head guiltily and hurried off as well.

A little later, all three were gathered in Lillian's room. Lillian was tucked into bed and laying down at Pitch's insistence. Jack was wearing pajamas that matched his eyes that had little white snowflakes all over them. He was without shoes or socks as usual, and didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that the pajamas were actually rather thin. Even though his preference in clothes was usually a sweatshirt or hoodie, the only temperatures that ever bothered him were warmer ones. Thankfully Pitch's lair was usually nice and cool. Not that great for a spring spirit, but wonderful for a winter one.

Jack was sitting cross legged by Lillian's feet and Pitch was perched on the edge of the bed by her.

"What sort of story would you like?" Pitch gently asked her. He hadn't gotten out any of her story books, as he wanted this one to be more personal. It was the least he could do, and he felt she needed the reassurance that things were going to be the same as they had been.

"I want a story about you," she said instantly. "Something that happened to you before you met me or Jack."

Instantly flashes of the Dark Ages came to Pitch and he tried hard not to panic. He didn't have a lot of nice memories before he had met Jack or Lillian, and thanks to the Man in the Moon's powers, all his evilness was rather vague, and since he had been _evil_ throughout a good portion of his life, everything was.. vague. Really vague.

It was strange. At times like this, when he was trying to remember things and found that he couldn't, he didn't feel quite whole. But other times he felt.. more. He felt more _complete_ , as if he could be who he wanted to be and not what something felt he should be like.

The silence stretched on as Pitch desperately tried to think of something, and then it came to him.

"A very, _very_ long time ago, I once sat in a position similar to this. I had a daughter who was very much like you," Pitch said to Lillian with a sad, wistful smile.

"Really?" Lillian breathed, already entranced by Pitch's story.

Pitch nodded and continued his story.

"Though I had to travel quite a bit, she treasured the moments when I could be alone with her. Every night that I was able, I would sit in her room at bedtime and tell her stories of things I had done. She loved to hear all about my travels, and would frequently make little trips of her own. My wife, Isabella, kept urging me to scold Emily Jane, but I could never bring myself to do it. I loved how she would have her own little 'adventures'."

The loving, sad tone in Pitch's voice almost made Lillian sorry she had asked for this story. It was obvious that Pitch still loved his wife and child and that he missed them greatly.

"She would have loved the two of you," Pitch said, his voice breaking a little at the end. "Having snowball fights, and traveling through that flower. Isabella would have treasured the both of you as well."

Pitch's eyes looked suspiciously shiny for a few moments as he cleared his throat.

"What were some of the adventures you had?" Lillian hastily asked, changing the subject from Pitch's long lost family.

Pitch cleared his throat again and smiled faintly at Lillian.

"That is another story for another time," he said mysteriously to her, trying to hide away thoughts of tucking Emily Jane in as he was doing now with Lillian. He remembered standing in the doorway to her room with Isabella at his side, his arm wrapped around her waist while they both watched their child sleep.

"Aww," Lillian said, sounding disappointed. Not only did Pitch not tell her a long story, she had also made him very sad. She silently berated herself for it. She was having so much fun acting like Pitch's child that she forgot to be a bit more considerate of Pitch's feelings on certain subjects. Plus her memories still felt fuzzy, so she knew Pitch must still feel fuzzy too.

"No complaining," Pitch said automatically as he stood. Jack stood as well, and Pitch made sure to tuck Lillian in firmly. "Now go to sleep. Perhaps you can dream about what stories you'll put in your book."

Lillian's guilt vanished as she thought of the book that she would be writing. She loved reading books, and she hadn't really attempted much writing, except for essays for school and was excited to be an actual author.

Pitch motioned for Jack to follow him out.

"Now we can go to your room," Pitch informed Jack.

"Uh.. why are you going to my room too?" Jack asked, confused.

"You must realize by now that _everyone_ who lives here gets tucked in," Pitch said as he ushered Jack off to his bedroom near Lillian's.

Jack blushed at the thought. He wasn't as young as Lillian, and while the teenager part of him rebelled at being treated like a little _kid_ , the lonely part of him that remembered those couple hundred years all by himself, relished in the attention.

So it was with little complaining that Jack got into bed. Pitch made sure to tuck Jack's covers in as well.

"Remember, _no snow_ ," Pitch reminded Jack as he reminded Jack every single day, at least two or three times a day. Not that it usually did any good.

Jack nodded and stifled a yawn.

"What are Lillian and I going to do, since we're grounded?" he asked Pitch.

Pitch looked at Jack very seriously.

"You and Lillian are going to spend the day writing me an essay all about responsibility and why it's important for you to inform me of your whereabouts."

Jack pouted in a very Lillian-like manner.

"Aw, man! An essay?!" he complained, the warm feelings of being tucked in vanishing in a fit of teenage rebellion.

Pitch looked more stern at that.

"Do you realize what I went through when I couldn't find the two of you? I searched the _world_ for you! I thought.." Pitch's voice broke. "..I thought I had lost you. That something terrible had happened."

Jack's protests died in his throat as he made the connection. Pitch didn't have his old family any more and thought he had lost his new one. Major guilt trip.

"I'm sorry," Jack whispered. He looked up at Pitch with large blue eyes.

To Pitch, he looked like a little boy who had gotten scolded. Pitch ran a hand down his face as he tried to regain some composure. He knew it would be a long time until he recovered from this experience. It was part of the reason he made their grounding so long, so he could secretly keep them close. Even if it would drive him insane having a bored Jack cooped up in the lair.

A bored Jack was always a very bad thing. He realized he was going to have to plan out activities that wouldn't seem like rewards, and that's how he came up with the punishment essay. Perhaps he would just have them do chores around the lair while they were grounded.

Hmmm..

Or push ups. Maybe having them run a few laps? Ohh, he could give them a whole fitness regimen! Yes, he could get the two of them in shape while they were grounded.

It would be _perfect._

* * *

A week later, Jack and Lillian were very much ready to be ungrounded. Pitch had been waking them up with the sun every single day and before they even had breakfast, they had to do special stretches, and then several push ups and sit ups. It was _horrible_. Pitch claimed that this would instill a sense of responsibility in them and that it would help them with their powers.

When Pitch announced that he thought they were capable of doing thirty push ups and sit ups apiece and then a few laps around the lair before breakfast, Lillian had hastily announced that she had better get on with spreading spring.

Jack said he could help Lillian melt the snow in Burgess, but Pitch had said that Lillian needed to spread Spring all by herself. She shouldn't count on the Winter Spirit to help her out all the time.

Relieved to be getting outside at all, and avoiding their fitness torture, Lillian had eagerly abandoned Jack to Pitch's clutches. She immediately ran off to Burgess and made her bracelet glow. The winter chill in the air vanished and the breeze definitely had that whiff of spring to it now.

She was hanging around the local school when she saw Jamie and his friends playing outside. They all had their winter gear on still, even though the temperature had turned rather mild pretty quickly.

Jamie's eyes lit up when he spotted Lillian, and he and the other kids ran over by here.

"Hey, you're Lillian, right? Spirit of Spring?" Jamie asked her eagerly. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to really speak with Lillian much and was excited to have the chance to.

Lillian nodded and looked a little nervous at all the attention. It was definitely very weird.

"Yeah.." she said quietly.

As she stood in one spot, the snow around her feet melted and spring flowers sprouted up.

"Why'd you have to make the snow go away?" Jamie asked, sounding disappointed. "Is Jack going to have to leave?"

Lillian quickly shook her head at that.

"Jack lives with me," she said hastily. "He usually doesn't have to go anywhere colder until it's almost summer. But when it's warmer out, he can't stay outside too long. It feels just right to me, but he's used to colder temperatures. As for why I'm making it warm, I mean.. really?"

She gave Jamie a look.

"It's _April_. It's time for Spring! Even though I really like Winter too, I can't mess with the seasons. That would cause all kinds of problems. People would probably think it was the end of the world if Winter kept going on. Besides, we can't have too much of a good thing, right?"

"I guess," Jamie said with a sigh. He noticed the flowers at Lillian's feet and his eyes widened. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "That happened in the winter! I remember my mom laughed when she saw flowers in the backyard and she said a little fairy must have been running around. That was _you_ wasn't it?"

Lillian looked embarrassed.

"Jack and I liked visiting your house a lot," she said as her cheeks got a little red.

Jamie's jaw dropped.

"Y-you did?" he said. He had no idea!

Lillian nodded.

"I liked your book of Myths and Legends, so I would sneak in to read it sometimes. Jack just liked visiting you 'cuz of all the snowball fights he would help you and your friends start."

"Wow!" Jamie said, then he paused. Jack Frost and Lillian had been visiting him a lot? And he never saw them! Oh man.

"I'm.. I'm sorry I didn't believe in you sooner," he said guiltily.

Lillian shrugged.

"I never minded, but Jack _really_ wanted believers. He's so lucky that you guys believe in him now. I don't think seasonal spirits normally have believers, so Jack is super lucky." she said with a smile.

Jamie smiled back at her while his friends milled about. Lillian was pretty adorable, for a girl.

"Hey, watch this!" Lillian said, happy to have an audience for her powers for once.

Her bracelet began to glow and she waved her hand at the ground behind Jamie and his friends. The snow began to melt more rapidly, and flowers started poking up from the ground as spring arrived at the school yard.

"Wow!" the kids all exclaimed as Lillian used her powers.

"I need to get rid of the snow," Lillian explained, "but since you guys are playing outside, I won't make it rain until tomorrow. Don't forget your umbrellas!" she said with an impish grin.

She gave the kids one last wave as she ran off. She had other places to visit after all.

As she spread Spring throughout Burgess, she thought about her book. Would the other Seasonal Spirits mind that she was going to be writing stories about them? She didn't think they'd mind having some believers, but what if they did? It seemed only natural to visit with August Bay first, as he was the season closest to hers. Then the thought of visiting Bunny at the Warren came to her.

She couldn't help it really, but the thought of visiting him made her excited, but also scared. He had hurt Jack and her. Plus he was always so grouchy! She really didn't want to go if all he was going to do was grump at her. Then again, he probably did have the best painting supplies. North's supplies were alright, but his were more for painting toys, than painting pictures.

She'd have to talk to Pitch and Jack about it later. A grin played on her lips as she thought of all the push ups that Jack was probably doing now. Maybe he'd already finished and started on his laps.

Ahh, the joys of doing ones job and avoiding all that horrible exercise. She didn't know it, but Pitch was planning on her doing her exercise routine when she got home.

* * *

Author's Note: I don't know where that angst came from, I swear! I visited Wikipedia for help with more of Pitch's backstory, as well as how things were with Emily Jane and Lady Pitchiner. Pitch has the saddest backstory ever. I still don't feel particularly comfortable going into details about any of the characters' pasts since I haven't actually read the books, but I figured I could go into Pitch's a little. I hope you guys liked this chapter as much as I did. My favorite parts of the story are where Pitch, Jack and Lillian have fun with just the three of them. But don't worry, I'll let other characters have fun too. I bet you were surprised I threw in a little Jamie and Lillian interaction there. And yes, I was highly amused that Lillian was telling Jamie things that everyone had probably been telling _her_ all this time. Not that Jamie would know. :P I also was very amused at that random little boy in the beginning of this chapter. Poor kid, he was so confused.

As always, if you have any suggestions, comments, whatever, feel free to let me know! I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. Sometime next week for sure. It depends on how busy I am.

 **Also.** I snuck a very small book reference in there if you can spot it. It's so tiny, I doubt anyone would.. but. If you can guess it, you'll get points! Lots of points!


	34. Chapter 33 A: Lillian's Preliminary Note

Author's Note: Ok, so this isn't a full update. It's sort of an interlude, since I'm still working on the actual update. It will be out either sometime on the weekend or next week before Christmas. I'll tell you more about the chapter, but first.. reviews!

I forgot to mention that a Guest suggested there be an Autumn Spirit. There is a Fall spirit that was mentioned, but only by name. That was waaaay back in the Halloween chapter. Don't worry, he'll be coming up along with the others. I plan on having Lillian (and Jack? Pitch? Who knows!) interact with them soon.

Cupcake suggested that I have Pitch go into overprotective Father mode on Jack and have several parts about it. Buwahaha. I will definitely do that sometime. Not quite sure when, but it will be in there.

Arizonamarie suggested that Pitch and Jack have a special tea drinking moment again, where Jack shares about that Easter. I can reveal that the next full chapter will feature this very thing. But that's the only spoiler you'll get!

CrossoverJunkie Suggested that Lillian could bring up the fact that Pitch had a family once to Bunny, to try and get Bunny to be more sympathetic with Pitch. This would cause Bunny to casually bring up Emily Jane and for Lillian to be all astonished, as she thought Emily Jane was dead. Then Bunny would reveal she's actually Mother Nature and that she has a very strained relationship with Pitch. I know I said before there would be no Mother Nature, but I'M SO TEMPTED. ARG. So.. I might do this. At some point. Not sure if it'll be right at Lillian's first visit to the Warren though, if she goes.

I think that's all the suggestions.. I'm gonna have to start making a list to make sure I include all your guys' awesome ideas! Anyway, about this particular chapter. It's as the title suggests, Lillian's preliminary notes about the Seasonal Spirits. It's everything she knows at the moment and will update as she meets the seasonal spirits. I might include more Interlude chapters with her notes or excerpts from her story. Would you guys be interested in more? They won't be as long as full chapters, but it would be a way of me getting things out to you without doing a half ass short chapter. Other things could be included too, such as notes or letters back and forth between Jack, Lillian, Pitch and the Guardians.

Anyway, on with the chapter!

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Three A: Lillian's Preliminary Notes

 **Lillian's Preliminary Notes:**

Seasonal Spirits

Spring Spirit:

Name: _ME!_

Sex: _Female, duh_

Looks: _Very pretty_.

Hobbies: _Hanging with Jack Frost and Pitch Black. Spreading Spring!_

Info: _Don't need to know! :)_

Summer Spirit:

Name: _August Bay_

Sex: _Male_

Info: _Rumored to have a hot temper. Doesn't seem to like Jack Frost, as he shouted at us when we were flying through. Yeesh! Also doesn't like comments of "Hey, Gramps, update your wardrobe!"_

 _Looks: (Caught a glimpse of him once!) Golden hair, hanging in curls to his shoulders. Skin is nicely bronzed from being in the summer sun constantly. Hazel eyes? It was hard to tell. Looks like he could be in his mid-twenties. Wears fancy golden-type clothes that a sun god might wear._

Fall Spirit:

Name: _Jasper_

Sex: _Male_

Info: _Dislikes Jack Frost and the disruption of his Season. He doesn't like me running around, since he kept complaining constantly about my spring flowers when I walk. I can't help it! He also seems to be very serious._

Hobbies: _Painting leaves for Fall. Jack secretly wants to help out, but Jasper's never offered. He thinks Jack is a trickster still. Even though he has a LOT of leaves to paint, he's as meticulous as Bunny about it. I kinda wonder what Jasper would say if I offered to get him a paint gun thinger to help things go faster. He also doesn't like being told he's Jack's long-lost twin brother._

Looks: _Short light brown hair. Darker brown eyes. Wears a brown hoodie with blue jeans. (Twin brother! Hoodies! But nooo. Doesn't like that.)_

Winter Spirit:

Name: _Jack Frost_

Sex: _Male_

Info: _Once loneliest of all the Spirits. Would like to be friends with the other Seasonals, but they don't want a thing to do with him. Now currently resides with me and Pitch. A pransker, but only for fun. He would never intentionally be mean about it. Also helped some kids save the world along with the Man in the Moon. Also finds it very funny to be called Jasper's long-lost twin._

Hobbies: _SNOOOOW. Pranks. SNOOOOOW. Spending time with ME. SNOOOOW. Hanging with Jamie and his other believers. SNOOOOOW. Hanging with Pitch! And... SNOOOOOW._

Looks: _Short white hair, bright blue eyes. Wears a blue hoodie with brown pants. No shoes!_

Powers: _Uses a staff to spread frost, make ice and make it snow. Capable of amazing snow falls, flurries and blizzards. Can sometimes make snowmen come to life and star in musicals._

 _Notes to Self:_ _I need to either ask or follow August Bay and Jasper to find out about their powers! Can they control the weather too? If Jasper can, then his powers must go hand-in-hand with Jack's, as he would lower the temperature too. Also might be nice to find out if the Seasonals ever get together for meetings. Asked Jack, but Jack never got invited to any._

 _Also. Find a way to not make the Seasonals sound like jerks in my story, even if I already don't like them much. Maybe I can convince them to be nice to Jack? Or have Pitch give them nightmares. That would work too._

* * *

Author's Note: It's not much, I know. But there's Lillian's view into the other Spirits. Leif isn't mentioned, since he was a _former_ Spirit of Spring and Lillian knows nothing about him. He might get an honorable mention in her story though. As for Jasper, I kinda imaged him as looking a lot like the human version of Jack Frost. Whether this will be randomness or plot related won't be revealed until much farther in the future. (I'm leaning towards randomness, but sometimes my brain invents plot out of nowhere.)

If you guys have any suggestions about any details on the Seasonals or else anything you feel I should add in the next chapter, let me know! As I said up above, the next chapter will be out sometime between Sat. thru Wed.! After that, I have no idea. Maybe not until after the new year.


	35. Chapter 34: Tea Time Again

Author's Note: This is a shorter update, but tea time with Pitch got all angsty. Nothing like some angst right before Christmas! :) It didn't start off that way, but oh well. I'll work on a chapter throughout break and post it sometime. Hopefully it won't take too long, but don't be surprised if it's posted after the new year.

Now for reviews..

I had a request to put a Guest's OC into the story. This OC would be a sprite, a helper to Jack or Lillian or any of the Seasonals. The Guest wanted this character to be like a child to Pitch. I think if I did put this character in, it would be a more minor character. The sprite would probably always have been a magical creature, since I would think that Sprites are not chosen like Guardians and wouldn't have died before hand or have been human before. If I had sprites at all in my story, they would be small, more fairy-like and only have powers pertaining to the Season that they help. So no multi-power kid running around. I would probably include this character at some point as Spring Sprite. If this isn't ok with you, then I'll leave it. If it IS however, then I might introduce Sprites at some point later on. We'll see.

PudinFeliz gave me an awesome review that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. They also suggested that I do birthdays! I hadn't thought of that, really, other than mentioning something about Lillian's at some point, but that would be fun. I think a surprise party for Pitch is in order at some point. :P Thanks for the idea!

CrossoverJunkie also gave me some more info about Mother Nature, whom I imagine is a young woman by now. I am DEFINITELY including her in the story later on. I have to! She might actually help out the plot a little, when it turns more serious. I can imagine some seasonal sprites turning up, Jack and Lillian being totally clueless about them and then oh, hey! Mother Nature! I can also imagine her coming up with some answers about basically shirking her duties to her Seasonals by declaring that it wasn't time for their meeting yet or some such thing. Plus it would be fun to annoy the Guardians with her.

Anyway, those are reviews done, so on with the story! I'm sorry for the angst!

Chapter Thirty-Four: Tea Time Again

The next week Lillian and Jack faced more of the same torture - er.. _exercise_ routine from Pitch. Pitch didn't want to hear any whining from the spirits and he was grateful for the routine as it made Jack too tired to cause havoc around the lair due to boredom.

He figured that when Jack and Lillian were finally let out of their grounding, that they'd spend a few glorious days outside and he'd have some peace and quiet to himself. However, he knew that came as a double-edged sword, since while they were there, he craved the quiet, but then when he had it he missed the noise.

Right now however, Pitch was enjoying a nice cup of tea while he enjoyed the solitude that came in the mornings before Jack and Lillian were up. He carefully avoided dwelling on a certain Easter or what had happened when he was so out of it. Every time his thoughts drifted in that direction, he felt a horrible, squirming guilt in the pit of his stomach.

As he sipped he enjoyed a nice, leisurely few minutes before Jack wandered in, looking a little sleepy. Jack was rubbing an eye sleepily, with his hair tousled. He was also holding his staff in his other arm, cradling it to himself like a teddy bear.

Jack was dressed, but clearly not quite functioning yet for the day. Nor did it seem like he had woken Lillian up, as Pitch didn't hear her yelling at Jack for one of his rude awakenings.

Pitch watched as Jack wandered over to the table and sat down. Jack stifled a yawn and tried to look more alert when he noticed that Pitch was watching him.

Jack studiously avoided Pitch's assessing gaze and looked down at the table top while Pitch eyed Jack. This was very curious. Jack hadn't done this yet. Perhaps something was bothering the boy?

Pitch shoved down the feeling that this was somehow his fault and abruptly got up from the table. Hurt flashed across Jack's face for a moment, but a moment was all Pitch needed as he soon returned.

Jack blinked when he saw the steaming cup of tea placed in front of himself, with the string of a tea bag dangling over the side.

"You'll need to let it cool, of course," Pitch said as he resumed his seat.

Jack nodded mutely, flushing slightly as he mentally scolded himself for thinking that Pitch had just up and _left_ him there. Of course Pitch wouldn't do that!

..Well.. he had done it before.

But he was different now!

Right?

Jack hugged his staff a little more closely to himself as uncertainty filled his eyes. He couldn't help it, but he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Pitch was being so _nice_ and so were the Guardians.

The Guardians..

He had trusted them, once.

He had trusted Pitch too.

And where had that gotten him?

He bowed his head, so his mop of white hair covered his eyes.

Pitch watched Jack's emotional display with growing frustration. The boy was practically an open book, so of _course_ it was easy for him to see that something was bothering Jack. But the boy just kept sitting there, so very unnaturally silent and still.

Jack Frost did not do _still._

"It will help," Pitch said trying to keep his voice calm, "if you talk about it."

Jack didn't move for a very long moment, but he finally took a deep breath and gently set his staff down, so it was leaning against the table. His hands reached out for his mug of tea and fiddled with it gently, careful to avoid touching anything other than the handle for the moment, as it was far too hot for him still.

"..Do.. do you _really_ know what happened on Easter?" Jack asked Pitch softly, still avoiding Pitch's gaze.

Pitch took a long sip of tea and set his mug back down.

"I know what you told the Guardians of it," Pitch said a little stiffly, as he tried his hardest not to think too much about it. "But I have to admit that the finer details are a bit.. hazy."

Jack nodded, looking completely miserable, as if he had expected that answer from Pitch.

"Bunny asked us to help him paint Easter eggs after..." Jack trailed off, blinking suddenly as his eyes looked suspiciously shiny. He cleared his throat and continued on. "We were all exhausted and Lillian looked especially tired. A little girl, Sophie, had snuck into Bunny's Warren, and tired herself out helping to paint the eggs. I offered to take her home and Lillian tagged along."

Pitch nodded, tightening his grip on his mug. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like where this was going.

"Baby Tooth came along as well and we got Sophie all tucked in, but then I heard a voice.. I had to.. to find out what it was. So I took off after it and brought Lillian along with me.. Baby Tooth followed along. They were trying to talk me out of following the voice, but I didn't listen. We found ourselves in your lair.."

Jack trailed off as he gripped his mug handle more tightly. He hadn't noticed, but his mug of tea was no longer steaming as his powers kicked in a bit at his upset.

"..You..." Jack sniffled a bit. "..You were c-cruel. You taunted me, and.. and.. you _tricked_ me. You told me the Guardians wouldn't really.. that they didn't really want me.. In the end you gave me my tooth case and shoved me out of the lair through a shadow. Lillian and Baby Tooth.. they were trapped in your lair."

Pitch closed his eyes in an overwhelming wave of guilt and regret. He could only imagine the Guardians' reactions as Jack returned very late, without little Lillian or that wretched fairy. He remembered seeing the mound of teeth canisters in his lair and realized that the Guardians probably knew exactly where they were. That meant they knew exactly where Jack had been..

Jack grabbed up his staff and hugged it tightly to himself as his bottom lip trembled.

"They.. they didn't even let me _explain!_ " Jack burst out suddenly. "They thought I was h-helping you..! And B-Bunny.."

Pitch gave Jack a sorrowful look.

"..Is known for his temper." he supplied for Jack. "He must have been very harsh."

Tears slid down Jack's cheeks as he nodded.

"..What.." Pitch started, then stopped. Did he really want to know? A tiny part of himself told him that he _had_ to know. No more hiding behind vagueness. He steeled himself for Jack's answer and continued on. "..What happened after that?"

Jack shuddered as the memories flooded in.

"I flew away to where I went b-before I met you and L-Lillian.. To Antarctica. I tried to throw away my tooth case."

"..Your memories.." Pitch breathed in horror.

Jack shook his head, his shoulders drooping in defeat.

"I c-couldn't do it.. And.. and then you came. With Lillian."

Pitch's eyes widened. He came to Jack when he was most vulnerable when he, Pitch, hadn't even been in his right mind. Jack had just admitted that he had been terribly cruel to the boy. What else had he done?

"..She.. she was all dark.." Jack said in a small voice. "..She looked... _Evil_. She looked like you."

Pitch looked down at his mug, looking as if he had just been slapped.

 _His_ Lillian...

"You said that we could be a family again.." Jack continued in his small voice. "You said it would be like it was before."

"..Was it?" Pitch asked in an almost vulnerable tone that he didn't know he possessed.

Jack shook his head.

"You.. you attacked me.. You hurt me and some black sand went inside me. The next thing I remember is waking up on the lake."

"Oh, _Jack_.." Pitch said, his voice laden with emotion.

Jack sniffled.

"B-but the thing is.. How can I trust them again? I thought they believed in me once, but then.. then.."

Pitch understood what Jack was really asking. He wasn't asking how he could trust the Guardians again. Well, he was, but what he was really asking was how he could also trust _Pitch_ again.

And that hurt.

More than Pitch could imagine.

As if reading Pitch's thoughts, Jack quickly glanced up at him.

"I know you didn't mean it," Jack said quickly. "You changed on the lake too, right? So.. so something must have happened to you, to make you different."

Pitch looked away from Jack's tearstained cheeks and down into his half empty mug of tea.

Memories from very, _very_ long ago threatened to overwhelm him.

He tried very hard not to think about them.

 _"Daddy! Daddy save me! Daddy, help me!"_

Pitch cleared his throat and took another drink of his tea.

"It was a long time ago," Pitch conceded softly.

"So you couldn't help it," Jack said, a little desperately.

Pitch shook his head.

"It doesn't excuse anything that I did. I manipulated you, I _hurt_ you when you were most vulnerable. It's inexcusable."

Jack bit his lip.

"Whatever it is.. How do we know it won't happen again?"

Pitch shook his head again.

"I don't know.." he said heavily with a sigh. "I thought I had it under control, but obviously something happened to make it worse."

Pitch remembered the odd sound of hoof beats he had heard when he first arrived at the lair and frowned.

"But.. we've been here for a good amount of time and nothing has happened, so I suppose that for now, we're alright. As for your question about the Guardians.. That will take time. You need to ask yourself if they're worth it. Do you value their friendship? Would it be worth going through all that hurt again? They obviously regret what they've done, or else they wouldn't be so desperately reaching out to you and Lillian."

Jack nodded and finally took a long drink of his cold tea.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lillian wasn't asleep as two certain spirits thought she was. She was laying on her stomach on her bed, with her legs up in the air behind her, crossed at the ankles. She had her notebook open in front of her and was writing down ideas for her book and also on how to approach the other seasonal spirits.

She was actually disappointed that it was Spring now, as it meant that it wasn't Summer anywhere. She also didn't know where August Bay lived, so that meant waiting until it was actually Summer.

She swung her legs back and forth a bit as she thought of a good beginning for her story.

* * *

Author's Note: I know, I know. So angsty. But it's also something Jack had to get off his chest. Lillian's just happy that Pitch is back to normal, and she wasn't there for the Guardians' betrayal, so it's not quite the same for her. It'll probably take a long time for Jack to get over his anxieties, so I can imagine that he and Pitch will be drinking a lot of tea in the near future. Next chapter will probably feature the last of the grounding, and the subsequent visit to North's with toy making. I think since you guys didn't object to it, I'll post an interlude on Christmas as I wait for certain family members to get up (I always wake up at the crack of dawn). You get points if you can guess what it is! HINT: It involves North.

Anyway, I welcome your suggestions/whatever and thank you to all the follows, faves and reviews!

 **Edit:** The italics where Pitch is trying hard not to think about things, that have the voice calling out for "daddy" are actually Pitch's daughter (or he thought it was at the time). Google Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians and it should have some info about Pitch's past. CrossoverJunkie posted some in his reviews if you want to look it up there too. It's from the books and I _know_ I said I was just going to do movie-verse, but darn it.. I.. I.. dunno! It snuck up on me! Plus Pitch needs backstory and that works. So I'm kinda meshing the movie-verse and book-verse a bit.. Just a _bit_ though, since I haven't actually read the books. So if everyone is Ooc, then.. then I'm sorry. I'm doing exactly the sort I thing I _hate._ Oh well.. Sorry for the rant. :)


	36. Chapter 35: Sincerely, Pitch Black

Author's Note: I know I said I was going to do an I interlude, but I was too sleepy and decided to put it in the story instead. Can you guess which part it was? It was only supposed to be a small cute part, but it to took over the chapter instead and gave me ideas about Pitch. As always, thank you for all the faves, follows and reviews! You guys' reviews make me all warm and fuzzy inside. :D Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter Thirty-Five: Sincerely, Pitch Black

Pitch watched Jack as Jack sipped his cold tea. He recalled how tired Jack still looked, yet he seemed reluctant to go back to bed.. He knew that look.

"Jack?" Pitch asked, as Jack looked back up from his tea.

"Yeah?" Jack said, trying to sound casual. He wiped his tearstained cheeks with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"Did you have a bad dream about all of this?" Pitched asked gently.

Jack flinched and looked back down at his tea. The nightmare had been _horrible._ He had dreamt again of the Guardians' rejection of him, and of that terrible moment in Antarctica. But instead of forcing Jack to join him, Pitch had weilded that knife and stabbed Jack.. right in the heart. Jack had stared up at Pitch with a look of utter betrayal and hurt, as his life began to fade away. With the last bit of life left in him, he had looked at the dark Lillian, only to see her grinning down at him, a look of malicious glee on her face at his death.

Jack shivered as he remembered the dream. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. Pitch could tell what the answer was just from Jack's reaction.

"It wasn't me," Pitch said. "Sometimes when terrible things happen to people, they are more than capable of producing their own nightmares without my help. What happened to you was clearly very traumatic, so this is your mind's way of dealing with it. I think once things are more settled between you and the Guardians, and.. us.. then your nightmares will stop. But you know you can always come to me or Lillian if you have them, don't you?"

Jack nodded at his tea, and tried to mentally will his tears away. He couldn't help it, but when Pitch had hurt him like that, just to turn him evil.. it had felt like Pitch had stabbed him right in the heart. That betrayal right on top of the one from the Guardians..

Jack buried his face in his hands. He couldn't deal with this. Pitch was back to normal, he and Lillian were normal, everything was supposed to be _fine._ The Guardians had apologized, Pitch had apologized.

But everything didn't feel fine.

It didn't feel fine at all.

Jack started when he felt the arms wrap around him from behind. He felt something ruffle his hair and hold him close. Jack sniffled and relaxed against the arms.

"Don't hide away your feelings," Pitch said gently to him as he held Jack in a sort of backwards hug. "No one expects you to get over this right away. It will take a long time, but I guarantee you that with time, it will. Perhaps the hurt won't ever go away, but it will feel better."

Jack felt more tears fall down his cheeks.

"..I.." Jack shuddered from the memory of it, "..I had a d-dream.. about you.."

Pitch stared down at the top of Jack's head in surprise, but soon smoothed his face out as he expertly hid the emotions away. He should have realized, espeically after Jack had explained how horrible that he, Pitch, had been.

"I'm sorry," Pitch murmured to Jack. "I wish I could say something to take it all back, to make it go away.. But I promise that I won't _ever_ do such a thing to you again."

Pitch gave Jack one final squeeze and finally let him go. He ruffled Jack's hair as he resumed his seat across from Jack.

Jack was looking far too sad and solemn for Pitch's tastes, as Jack just didn't do angsty. It made him look very un-Jacklike.

"You know, I'm surprised you're not thinking of ways to use the new toy you're inventing," Pitch said, trying to keep his tone light. "Personally I think it would be a good way of waking up a certain sleepy spring spirit, don't you?"

Jack's startled look, then watery smile were a start.

The smile became a full on grin when Pitch suggested that he might look the other way if Jack wanted to use his powers to wake Lillian up today.

Two seconds later, there had been a _WHOOOSH_ and then Lillian's surprised shriek could be heard throughout the lair.

Pitch smiled to himself as he sipped his tea, but that smile soon slipped.

How long had Jack been having nightmares?

Had he been having them ever since he came back?

Pitch set down his cup, looking into it thoughtfully.

What could he do about this?

A thought occurred to him and he tried to push it away.

But if it was to help Jack...

Pitch sighed. Sometimes he _really_ disliked his brain.

* * *

Not too long afterwards, Pitch found himself at a desk in his room, with a piece of paper in front of himself.

He still couldn't believe this...

 _Pitch Black_ writing a letter to _Santa._

Soon however, he had the thing written. Using the shadows in his room, he had slipped outside. The sun was rising, but it was still weak.

Still, Pitch was surprised as usually the sunlight hurt him, but this time he felt.. nothing. He gazed up at the sun in consternation, then looked at a pale hand.

Could this be the Man in the Moon's doing? He shook his head as he slipped from shadow to shadow. He had a letter to mail.

* * *

Some time later, Phil returned to the Pole with an armful of letters. He had volunteered for letter duty on the grounds that it was the off season, and there shouldn't be too many letters. One letter in particular though, drew his eye. This one didn't have a childish scribble on the front. This one had very good penmanship, with the cursive almost looking like calligraphy.

When Phil read the front of the envelope, his eyes practically popped out of his head. He rushed off to North's office to give him the letter.

North looked less than pleased to be interrupted _again_ , in his office, but the look passed as he realized Phil was waving around a letter.

He remembered that Phil had volunteered for letter duty and looked at the letter with interest.

"Is from Jack or Lillian?" he asked. It was unusual that they would write to him when he knew they were coming to visit any day now.

Phil shook his head and thrust the envelope into North's hands.

North read the return address and almost dropped the letter in shock.

 _Pitch Black._

What would HE be writing to North for?!

North hastily ripped open the envelope to read the letter inside.

It read:

 _North,_

 _I realize that you weren't expecting this, but I trust you will pass this message along to whom it needs to go to. As you must suspect from our last visit, Jack has some issues yet with this past Easter. Even though he refuses to say so, I believe that he's been having nightmares about it ever since he returned home. If you hadn't realized, the Sandman's dreamsand is incapable of penetrating my lair, so Jack or Lillian often don't have the good dreams that the Sandman gives to children. I fear that living here has given the both of them more than their fair share of nightmares. My main concern at this moment however, is Jack, as he appears to be the most distressed from all of this. If you could please pass the message along to the Sandman, perhaps the Sandman can figure out some way of passing along good dreams to Jack as he so desperately needs them. I would greatly appreciate this._

 _Thank you._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Pitch Black_

North stared at the letter. Pitch was asking for _help?_

But then North nodded. He wasn't just asking for help, he was asking for help for _Jack._

He stood and brushed past Phil, who had been hanging around in the hopes of finding out the content of the letter (was he was certain it was about his two favorite spirits), and walked out of his office.

* * *

It had been a few days since Pitch had sent that letter, and he had heard _nothing._ Not a thing.

He had just finished spreading nightmares for the night, but his heart hadn't been in it. Not when Jack had woken up very early again, and was more silent than ever as they sipped their tea.

Pitch had mostly spent the night slipping into children's rooms and watching their good dreams a little jealously. Why couldn't _his_ children have such good dreams?

And he had heard _nothing_ from the Sandman. It was this that had Pitch seething, and it was this reason that he had appeared from a shadow in the woods and proceeded to stomp all the way back to the lair.

It was as he was preparing to slip under the bed that was over the entrace to his lair that he finally noticed the three small golden sacks of dreamsand each tied off with a golden ribbon. A folded sheet of paper lay under the one in the middle.

It read:

 _So that all three of you can have sweet dreams. Use a pinch before bedtime. Let me know if Jack still has problems, and I'll see what else I can do. And just because Lillian hasn't been more vocal, doesn't mean she isn't having troubles too._

 _If you want to get in touch with me, I'm often around Burgess just after sunset._

Pitch folded the letter and tucked into his robes. He shook his head at the notion that all _three_ of them needed good dreams. It had been so long since he had had a good dream, he didn't remember what they were like. But he was used to his nights holding horrendous nightmares or else nothing but darkness until he awoke. He shivered, ignoring as he always did, the desperate cry of _"Daddy!"_ in the back of his mind.

So he had been having nightmares as well.. It was only natural, since a large portion of his life was suddenly.. gone. Obscured and beyond his reach. Memories he hadn't thought of in centuries had suddenly starting surfacing, and since the ones directly before becoming Pitch Black were most unpleasant, he had been having nightmare after nightmare about them.

So when he was overwrought, he did what he always did, he threw himself into his work. Only now he couldn't work, since whenever he saw a child whimpering in their sleep, all he could see was Jack.

Pitch rubbed a hand down his tired face. He was getting too old for this. He looked back down at the sacks and nodded to himself. If he gave Jack and Lillian his share, then the dreamsand would last that much longer. He doubted if Sandy actually cared about his dreams or not. Probably he just sent three as a curteousy.

With that thought in mind, Pitch grabbed up the three bags and disappeared down into his lair. If he had been a little less preoccupied, he might have heard the stamp of a hoof and snort of a horse coming from a nearby shadow of a tree.

* * *

That weekend found Pitch with a headache and two very hyper child spirits. The dreamsand seemed to be doing the trick, as Jack had now taken to sleeping in a bit later and didn't seem to be brooding so much over that Easter. Meanwhile, Pitch had been having more trouble than ever sleeping and being woken up early every single day was taking its toll on him.

Not that he'd ever tell anybody. He was _Pitch Black._ He could handle his sleep just fine, thank you.

So it was with this thought in mind that he was gripping his tea cup a little harder than necessary as he heard Lillian and Jack rocketing around the lair, very noisily and happily proclaiming that their grounding would be done on Monday and then they could go visit _Santa!_

Pitch shook his head at this. Only a child could go from being all upset about the Guardians to only a few days later be so happy about visiting one of them. But he had to admit, even North still held a magical quality that made all children adore him, even Jack Frost.

Besides, he knew that ever since he had implanted the thought in Jack's mind that Jack was so eager to finish his toy so he could mercilessly pelt Lillian with snowballs as a wakeup call.

Pitch was _not_ looking forward to that day.

By the time Monday rolled around, Pitch had a serious eye twitch and children around the world were wondering why their nightmares suddenly.. stopped. Pitch was seriously starting to consider that perhaps he _did_ need a tiny pinch of the dreamsand after all, but as it was nearing the afternoon it was too late to have any at this moment.

Which was a shame, as Jack and Lillian had been hyperactive all afternoon and his headache was worse than ever. He had sent word ahead that weekend that he, Jack and Lillian would turn up at the Pole on Monday afternoon. He had requested that he appear via the shadows in the globe room and as he hadn't heard any negatives on this, he was now in his own globe room making sure that Jack and Lillian were prepared.

He made sure that Lillian had her scarf and gloves on and Lillian made sure she had her notebook. He clucked his tongue at Jack and produced a scarf from who-knows-where and started wrapping it around Jack's neck when Jack chuckled at Pitch's antics.

"I can't get cold, remember?" Jack said cheekily to Pitch, who was just glad that Jack was more like himself again.

Pitch, whose tired mind hadn't remembered this, merely nodded absently and abandoned his efforts to tie Jack's scarf around his neck.

Jack finished tying it off anyway, as it was the same shade as his blue hoodie, with white snowflakes and tassles at the ends.

Pitch made sure they were all bundled up, even though they wouldn't go outside if he could help it and soon ushered them through a shadow into the globe room at North's.

He shouldn't have been surprised to see all four of the Guardians waiting on them.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry to leave it cliffhangery, but I can promise that the next chapter will definitely have toy making in it! And you'll FINALLY see what toys Pitch is going to make. I'm also highly amused that I'm having a winter storm on the day I decided to update. If you guys have any more plot suggestions, I'm willing to hear them. Not sure when I'll update again, but it probably won't be until next Monday. And yes, I was a little amused that _Pitch_ was having nightmares. I'm guessing it will be Sandy to the rescue on this one!


	37. Chapter 36: Toy Time

Author's Note: Here's a little update for you guys! I thought you'd like it if it came a little early. To address reviews:

Thanks for the night terror info, from CrossoverJunkie. Natalia Faye gave me warm fuzzies with her review. That is honestly the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my writing. :) Thanks!

As for suggestions, a guest suggested that I have Jack's sister come back with powers, which I take to mean as a Spirit of some sort. I'm undecided on this. If it happened, it wouldn't be until later on in the story. I kinda like the characters I have going now, and their dynamics. I'll definitely keep this in mind though.

Since there were no more suggestions (other than updating!), on with the story!

Chapter Thirty-Six: Toy Time

Pitch took in the sight of _all_ the Guardians being there with a raised eyebrow. Even though no one had mentioned it, he assumed that North would be the only Guardian present. Apparently he had been mistaken.

Jack must have had the same thought, since he looked surprised as well to see all the Guardians present. They had been sitting when the three spirits arrived, but now they were all standing with big smiles on their faces. Well, except for Bunny.

Bunny looked friendlier than Jack had ever seen him, but Bunny wasn't the sort to have a big smile on his face usually. Jack gripped his staff a little tighter and held it to himself a bit, like a teddy bear. Today he was wearing his trademark blue hoodie and his brown pants.

Lillian was wearing a spring green dress with a matching ribbon in her hair and was holding her notebook. From the big smile on her face, she was oblivious to Jack's apprehension on seeing all of the Guardians.

"Santa!" she squealed and ran right over to North. "Hi!"

North chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Hello there! Is good to see you," he said with a smile, then looked over at Jack, who didn't seem inclined to move. "Jack and Pitch too."

Pitch nodded at this and walked forward to stand by Jack. He nudged Jack a little, and Jack glanced at Pitch.

Pitch gave Jack a 'Well? What are you waiting for?' look, and Jack blushed a little. With another not-so-subtle nudge, Jack walked over to join Lillian in chatting with North.

Pitch shook his head at Jack's back, then noticed that someone had wandered over to say hello to him as well.

A little golden someone.

Pitch looked down as he recognized the burst of golden dreamsand images over Sandy's head and looked at them thoughtfully for a moment.

"Ah," Pitch said, interpreting the message. "You wish to know if the dreamsand has been effective?"

Sandy nodded an affirmative and Bunny and Tooth exchanged looks at this. Dreamsand?

"Yes, it seems to be doing its job quite well," Pitch said quietly to Sandy, so that Jack and Lillian wouldn't overhear.

Sandy took in Pitch's appearance. While Pitch looked like his normal self (his normal _non-gray_ self), he seemed to be a bit paler than normal and those dark circles under his eyes, weren't very attractive, even if they did go with his normal dark attire.

Sandy raised a knowing eyebrow at Pitch, who rolled his eyes in response.

"I can handle my own sleep just fine," Pitch snapped in response to Sandy, looking a little edgy.

Tooth glanced at Bunny again, wondering if they were supposed to be hearing this conversation. But Bunny wasn't looking to share another confused look with Tooth, he was watching Pitch's conversation with Sandy intently, with a frown on his face.

Tooth internally rolled his eyes. Oh _honestly_ , did Bunny _still_ suspect Pitch?! They'd been over this!

Sandy started to form golden dreamsand images over his head to lecture Pitch about the value of a good night's sleep when Lillian ran over, practically skipping with happiness.

"Come on, Pitch!" she beamed up at him. "You said you'd make toys with us!"

Pitch ignored Sandy's half-formed lecture and instantly his irritated look vanished as he smiled down at her.

"I do recall saying that," he said fondly to her.

"Come on!" she grabbed Pitch's hand and tugged him after North, who was leading Jack off to the workshop.

Bunny snorted at that.

" _Pitch Black_ is going to make some toys?" he said skeptically.

Tooth reached over and smacked Bunny on the shoulder.

"We talked about this! He's changed, remember?" she scolded Bunny. "You need to give him the benefit of the doubt!"

"Oh please - " Bunny started, but Tooth interjected by grabbing Bunny's arm.

"Then you'll have to see for yourself!" she said as she dragged him off after the others.

Sandy stood alone, his lecture on a good night's sleep going unheard. The normally good natured spirit looked irritated at being left behind and he floated off after everyone else.

Obviously Pitch needed a nap, not a toy making spree!

* * *

Sandy arrived at the workshop in time to see that Jack, Lillian and Pitch had been set up with their own tables.

Jack was talking animatedly with North and Phil about his toy, probably on the mechanics of getting it to work. He could see that Lillian was doodling in a sketchpad with her notebook open nearby.

Pitch also appeared to be drawing on a piece of paper and he kept glancing over at Jack and Lillian from time to time, probably to check on them.

Tooth and Bunny hovered nearby, curious on what Lillian and Pitch were up to, but hesitant to ask.

Sandy rolled his eyes at them and wandered over to Lillian first, in case Pitch still needed a moment or two to cool off.

He gently tapped Lillian's shoulder to get her attention, glad that the child was more his height.

Lillian stopped her drawing and looked surprised to see Sandy there.

Sandy grinned at her and gestured at her drawing.

"Oh!" Lillian said, as she got his meaning. "What am I doing?"

Sandy nodded, and Tooth and Bunny wandered over to listen in on the explanation.

"Well, I'm making a storybook on all the Seasonals, right?" she said as looked from her drawing to Sandy.

Sandy nodded his understanding.

"I decided the book is going to go in order of the seasons, so I have to start with Spring first," she said with a small grin at this. "I started writing down all the information I know about myself and my powers, so I could organize my thoughts."

She gestured at her notebook.

"I wanted pictures to go along with the story, so I'm sketching out possible spring scenes I could paint. Pitch said that North probably doesn't have the kind of paints I'd use to paint a picture. He said North's paints are probably more towards painting toys, so I'm sketching right now. I can figure out the painting part later."

Sandy noticed Tooth and Bunny nearby and shot Bunny a look.

Bunny, taking the hint, cleared his throat.

"Ya know, sheil - er.. _Lillian_ , I have all kinds of paint at my Warren. "Yer welcome ta come by any time ta paint if ya want."

Lillian paused and looked over at Bunny, with her eyes a little wide. She remembered when he had made that same offer at dinner, a couple of weeks ago.

Lillian paused, looking a little hesitant.

"Could.. could Pitch come too?" she asked.

Bunny inhaled sharply at that, but before he could get started Tooth elbowed him.

"I think that's a nice idea," she said with a smile at Lillian. "I bet Jack would like to come along too. You guys could have a painting party!"

Bunny rubbed the spot where Tooth had none-too-gently elbowed him.

"I guess.. that'd be alrigh'.." he said after both Tooth and Sandy glared at him. _Yeesh!_

Lillian's eyes immediately lit up, not noticing that Bunny had almost been forced to agree by his fellow Guardians.

"That'd be so much fun!" she grinned at Bunny, but her grin faded a little as she looked over towards Jack. "I dunno if Jack will come though," she said with a little less enthusiasm.

"Why not?" Bunny asked, although he was pretty sure that he knew why.

Lillian shrugged, looking uncomfortable.

"He did say you guys were pretty mean to him.."

Bunny looked a little affronted. How many times did they have to apologize?!

"We already apologized fer that!"

Lillian nodded and looked away from the upset Bunny back down to her notebook. She didn't like seeing anyone upset or angry, and thanks to her horrible memories, now she knew why. She shivered a little and forced her mind on other things.

"I know, and Jack knows you meant it," she said quietly to her notebook. "It's just.. I think it's hard to forget. And sometimes even if you say you're sorry, you wind up doing the same thing again, even if you don't mean to. I think he's kinda worried you're going to do it again. I could be wrong.. He won't really talk to me about it."

Bunny deflated at that. Jack really had so little faith in them? He supposed they deserved it.

"But I'll see if he'll come. Everyone deserves a second chance."

With that, Lillian picked up her pencil and resumed her doodling.

Bunny pointedly ignored Sandy's knowing look and after a moment, Sandy wandered over by Pitch.

He tugged on Pitch's black shirt, surprised that Pitch decided to forgo his usual black cloak. Pitch was still dressed in all black, of course, but that combined with his non-gray complexion made him look much more normal than before.

Pitch sighed and looked down at the golden form of Sandy again.

" _Yes?_ " he asked in a long-suffering voice, as if he were trying very hard to tolerate this interruption.

Sandy gestured at Pitch's sketch, curious what the spirit had come up with.

Pitch quickly looked over towards Jack and Lillian, to see them absorbed in their tasks.

"If you must know," he said quietly to Sandy, though he noticed that Tooth and Bunny were hovering nearby, listening in, "I thought of a new toy that Lillian would enjoy. I thought of a way to make it work for Jack as well. I was just working out the dimensions for the size, and how much fabric and stuffing I would need."

Sandy looked curious, and formed a golden question mark above his head.

Pitch sighed but nodded.

"Very well, I'll tell you, but you must _not_ tell either Jack or Lillian. And that goes for you two as well," he shot at Bunny and Tooth, who were surprised that Pitch noticed them listening in.

After all of them had agreed, Pitch continued to explain.

"Lillian is still a child at heart so I thought perhaps a small stuffed animal would do. Her favorites are bears, so I decided on a small teddy bear. At first I was going to make a couple in a few different colors, but I decided to make it more special, she would like.. ah.. bear forms of yourselves."

Pitch pointed at his sketch.

"The limbs are detachable, as they are only velcroed on. Therefore, she could mix and match the limbs as she pleases, making silly combinations. I don't think I've seen a toy like this before, and thought perhaps if North liked, he could use the idea to make other bears. I decided to include in this set, a bear of myself and Jack.. then I remembered that Jack doesn't have much in the way of children's toys. I noticed he lugs that staff of his wherever he goes, and he seems to cling to it for comfort quite a bit."

The others nodded, looking wide eyed at Pitch's explanation. Pitch sounded clinical in his explanation, but there was no denying that gentleness that entered his tone when he was speaking about Lillian and Jack.

"Then I started thinking that Jack doesn't have much in the way of things that would give him comfort. He might look quite grown up, but in many ways, he's still a frightened child. So I thought perhaps he would like his own bear.. a full-sized one. A Jack Frost bear. I was going to make a little storybook to go along with it, and I was going to see if North would be willing to mass produce it. I believe that, along with Lillian's own book, would help immensely in Jack gaining new followers. I know it would mean the world to him."

"Pitch.." Tooth said softly. "Wow.. that's.. that's.."

Pitch, looking uncomfortable at the looks he was receiving, looked back down at his drawings.

"It would never be enough to make up for.." Pitch trailed off and cleared his throat, his voice rough with emotion. "..I thought perhaps he'd enjoy it."

"That sounds like a wonderful gift," Tooth said gently, with Sandy nodding vigorously in agreement.

Bunny blinked as he stared at Pitch. Pitch looked serious and his voice sounded very sincere. He actually cared about those two?

Pitch's grip tightened on his pencil, as his thoughts turned to Emily Jane. He remembered when he got her gifts, when she was small. He felt much like he did right now, picturing her joyous face when she'd open whatever present he had gotten for her.

 _"Oh Daddy, it's wonderful! I love it!"_

 _"Daddy, I love you."_

 _"Daddy?"_

 _"Daddy, I'm scared! It's dark in here!"_

 _"DADDY!"_

"..itch?" Tooth's concerned voice cut in to his memories. "Are you ok?"

To his horror, Pitch realized he couldn't properly see the sketch book because there were tears in his eyes. He tightened his grip on his pencil again, accidentally snapping it.

"..I.." Pitch said, blinking the tears back. "Yes.. of course. I'm fine."

But they could tell he wasn't fine.

Sandy threw an exasperated look at Pitch, but this time, he didn't comment.

* * *

Author's Note: What do you think about Pitch's toy ideas? I think they're super cute. Plus Jack lugging around a Jack Frost teddy bear is _adorable!_ Yes, the reviewer idea was for Pitch to actually do Lillian's previous idea of a Pitch Black toy of some sort, but I don't think Pitch would be like that anymore. Yes, he'd like some more believers, but he's not going to exploit North's workshop for it. He'll do it the old fashioned way, I suppose. And yes, it seems Pitch is still dealing with all his issues yet. I couldn't help throwing a little angst in there. Anyone have any suggestions on Pitch's choice of confidante? If it had to be a Guardian, I'm leaning towards Sandy a bit, since Sandy is an awesome listener. Even though Pitch and Sandy have had their differences, I bet in this they could actually become friends. Maybe not _best_ friends, but they could have an understanding of sorts.

I also couldn't help the idea of dragging Jack and Pitch along on the Warren visit, which I'm thinking will happen pretty soon since Lillian will need to get painting some pretty pictures for her book. I think some family bonding time with Bunny will be good for all of them. Sometimes I want to smack Bunny for being so stubbornly dense like he is right now. He _still_ just doesn't want to admit that Pitch is different now. I suppose I can't blame him though, since Pitch did ruin Easter something fierce.

Anyway! If you have any suggestions, comments or whatever, feel free to let me know! And thanks for all the follows, faves and reviews! This story has over 22k views now! Yay!

(Also, I was toying around with an idea for Jack in the future. It's mostly just because it would be super cute, but it could affect future plot. I haven't decided yet. If it happens, it would be temporary but insanely adorable. It could also be a way for Jack to get closer to the Guardians, maybe? Eh.. I haven't decided yet. Curse me for reading awesomely adorable ROTG fics!)


	38. Chapter 37: Toy Time Part 2 & Sandy

Author's Note: I decided to give you guys another update! I'll also be updating for sure on Friday, maybe earlier since I'm super eager for the next chapter. I also decided on actual PLOT since a reader assumed I hadn't figured out what I wanted the latest trouble to be.. I have to admit, I sort of wanted to skip this entire chapter and just zoom off to that, but I knew that wouldn't be fair to you guys and Pitch still has issues and things, sooo..

Anyway, reviews:

A guest suggested that I do another Christmas time and have Bunny's gift for Lillian be a set of paints. This is a good idea, if Lillian gets into painting after writing her book. I'll keep this in mind! There probably won't be a Christmas for awhile yet though, since I have things coming up with the Seasonals, so Summer will be coming up pretty soon.

CrossoverJunkie suggested that Tooth would be a good confidante too, especially since Pitch is dealing with his memories and she is the Guardian of Memories. I decided to go a different route, but that doesn't mean she couldn't help Pitch out in the future, since I'm sure this won't be solved in just a few chapters. Plus it gives the Guardians a good reason to focus on Pitch a bit more and help him out too.

Spritefire suggested that Pitch accidentally let something slip to Bunny. At this point I'm thinking Bunny would scoff and not actually help Pitch.. but I think Pitch could let something slip later on, once Bunny's less in Pitch hating mode.

Natalia Faye suggested that Sandy or Tooth would be good choices for Pitch, but probably not Bunny or North. She also suggested that Bunny and Pitch get in a little bonding time when they all go to the Warren for some painting time. I think I can wiggle this in before Lillian runs off to interview August Bay, the Summer spirit.

Lastly, The Skeleton Girl suggested that it would be awesome if Emily Jane (aka Mother Nature) showed up. She suggested that Emily Jane have dual identities - one as Mother Nature and the other as a Weather Spirit of some sort. Since CrossoverJunkie confirmed that Mother Nature does have some abilities over weather, I think I'll just stick with her being known only as Mother Nature. She's also going to be showing up sooner than I had planned, so expect her to come up in maybe a chapter or two! :P

I think I covered all the reviews.. For some reason they're not wanting to show up on fanfiction, so I'm having to rely on my email to see them. SIGH. Stupid internet. Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Toy Time Part 2 & Sandy Intervenes

Pitch took a deep breath to calm himself, and after an awkward pause he suggested that the Guardians go see how Jack's plans were coming along for his toy.

Bunny frowned at Pitch, but instead of it accompanying his usual glare, this frown was more like the frown of someone trying to figure out a puzzle. For a moment he could have _sworn_ it sounded like Pitch was..

Bunny shook his head a little.

Nah.. this was _Pitch Black._

It's not like Pitch ever _cried_.

With that thought firmly in place, he went over by Jack's table to see how Jack was getting along.

Sandy gave Tooth a look, the both of them knowing that Pitch wasn't fine at all.

Tooth, being the more vocal of the Guardians, hesitantly spoke up.

"..Pitch..? You know.. ah, if you ever have anything you want to talk about.. you can come to us." she tried to give Pitch an encouraging smile, but Pitch was too busy looking down at his sketches. "We're good listeners!"

" _Some_ of you, at any rate." Pitch muttered, thinking of Bunny's hasty retreat, and all the times Bunny yelled at him recently.

Tooth's wings fluttered a little nervously and she played with her fingers.

"Yes, well.." she started to say, but one of her fairies fluttered over to her and she instantly went back into Tooth Fairy mode. "Molar in Seattle! Baseball accident!"

It was so sudden that both Sandy and Pitch jumped a little at her declaration.

"Think about it, alright?" Tooth said brightly to Pitch and then flew over to Jack's table, where everyone was trying to figure out the mechanics of this heat-seeking snowball bazooka.

Pitch shook his head. He knew that Tooth meant well, but she was honestly so busy that even if he _did_ feel like talking, there would probably be constant interruptions.

After a moment of quiet, Pitch realized that one Guardian had failed to take their leave. He looked over to see Sand still standing by him, with his arms crossed.

Pitch rolled his eyes at this.

"I suppose you are going to say the same? Forgive me for saying so, but the Guardians don't strike me as _confidantes_ , especially after all our differences." he snapped at Sandy.

A few golden images appeared over Sandy's head to indicate that their previous problems are now water under the bridge and that they would all be there for _all_ of them, not just Jack and Lillian.

Pitch sighed at this and ran a hand through his hair.

"..I don't want to talk about it," he finally said. "I'm sure this matter will clear itself up. I haven't been myself for quite some time, so of course there's bound to be... issues. Now why don't you run along so I can work on my designs, hm? This is going to be particularly boring."

Sandy almost did leave, but then he remembered that pretty much nobody liked Pitch and all the times they just.. ignored him. They had done that to Jack too, before they got to know him better. Pitch might not have a light shining on the globe, but he was good now and it wouldn't be right if they went back to ignoring him again.

Pitch might have Jack and Lillian to keep him company, but he knew that Pitch didn't have many adult friends.. if any. Even though Pitch claimed to have whatever his problem is under control, he was probably lonely.

With a nod to himself, Sandy stubbornly floated up into the air so he could see Pitch's drawings better. He contented himself on just watching Pitch for awhile, but after a little bit he started to chime in with suggestions.

Even though Pitch didn't have any comments on Sandy's suggestions, Sandy noticed that every once in awhile Pitch would write down comment or adjust one of his drawings to Sandy's suggestion with another pencil that was nearby.

With a grin, the silent Guardian continued to help out Pitch.

Meanwhile, things were busy over at Jack's table.

"It's not really a _bazooka_ ," Jack corrected Bunny for the umpteenth time. "It's more like one of those nerf guns, but with snowballs!"

Bunny harrumphed, but didn't bother saying anything else, since he was actually having a conversation with the kid and he didn't want to blow it.

"Still, ya gotta be careful with the force of it," Bunny said, as if Jack hadn't already thought of this.

Jack nodded absently, and rubbed his forehead. He knew absolutely _nothing_ about mechanics, and all this planning was making his head hurt.

"Can't we get a nerf gun and alter it?" Jack whined a little. "That'd be easier."

"Ah ah ah," North said, wagging his finger at Jack. "Copyright issues! Nerf toy, I do not make. Is toy company thing. However, I do make _similar_.. I'll see if I have one on hand! We can take apart and study how it shoots, then make something a little bigger for snowballs."

"Alright!" Jack cheered with a grin. "Now we're getting somewhere."

He drew on his own sheet of paper.

"Now.. what designs should it have on it? It's gotta look cool."

"Omigosh, it could have little teeth or floss around the edges!" Tooth exclaimed, only to get weird looks from her fellow Guardians and Jack.

"Well.." Jack said, not really wanting to hurt Tooth's feelings. "I guess it could have a stripe that sort of _looks_ like floss."

"Here," Bunny said, stealing Jack's paper and pencil. "What about somethin' like this?"

He redrew Jack's current design and then took some colored pencils nearby to color it in. He had the actual gun be a blue, but not a dark blue. The end of the muzzle was white that tapered off into what looked like little snowballs. There was an exciting darker blue stripe that ran down by the bottom of the barrel and at the end of it had what appeared to be a snowboarder zooming away from all the snowballs. The darker blue stripe connected to the snowboard, to make it clear the guy was moving _fast._

Jack watched Bunny color all this in a matter of minutes and stared at the drawing in wonder.

"That's _perfect_ ," he breathed.

Bunny preened at the comment and twirled the colored pencil he was holding.

"I don't paint all those eggs for nothin', mate," he grinned at Jack.

Jack grinned back at Bunny before he remembered about that Easter and his grin faded away.

More subdued than before, he spoke to Bunny.

"Thanks," Jack said quietly to him.

Bunny nodded at Jack, but looked a little sad now. He wondered how long it would be before Jack would completely forgive them for their greatest mistake.

* * *

Before they all knew it, it was getting more towards dinner time and it was time to go, as Pitch declared to two very disappointed child spirits.

"But..!" Jack exclaimed, as his table was strewn with all sorts of parts from a dismantled nerf gun and a partially assembled snowball thrower, as Jack kept stubborning calling it, and _not_ a snowball bazooka.

Pitch hadn't accomplished much in the way of finishing his toys, but he did have all of them drawn out, complete with costumes and he had several fabric swatches picked out for the outfits and the bears. It would seem that the next time they came back, he'd actually be able to get started on making the things.

He carefully handed over all this to Phil with the instructions that Jack and Lillian shouldn't see them.

Phil nodded dutifully and proceeded to head off to tuck them in the back where they wouldn't be discovered or disturbed until the next time the three spirits came over.

"Aww!" Lillian exclaimed right after Jack. "But we just got here!"

Pitch rolled his eyes at their antics. The always said that no matter where they went and no matter how long they actually stayed in a place.

"Say your goodbyes, it's time for dinner." Pitch said to them in his no-nonsense voice.

Jack and Lillian shared a look at that.

 _Adult mode._

North butted in before there could be any more whining.

"You are all welcome to stay for dinner again!" he boomed out jovially. "It would be fun and it would save you some trouble, Pitch!"

Even North had noticed how tired Pitch looked.

Pitch was about to protest, when he noticed that _everyone_ was giving him a hopeful look.

" _Fine.._ " he sighed. "But after that, we have to leave."

"Excellent!" North exclaimed while he clapped his hands together. "Why don't you all go to sitting room while I make dinner? Will be ready soon!"

So after a little time spent cleaning up, all of them minus North headed out to the globe room, where there were couches and chairs near the fireplace.

Pitch took a look at the setup and drew one of the chairs further away from the fire. Jack gave Pitch his thanks and plopped down in it while holding his staff.

Pitch, Lillian and Sandy all shared a couch while Tooth and Bunny took chairs nearby. Thanks to the elves, they soon were all supplied with some hot chocolate and cookies to snack on while they waited for dinner.

Pitch firmly told Jack and Lillian that they were only allowed two cookies apiece or else they'd ruin their appetite, and Pitch also reminded Jack to wait to have his hot chocolate, since the drink would be too hot for him.

"Yes _Mom_ ," Jack chuckled as he set his hot chocolate aside for now. He took a bite out of one of the cookies while ignoring Pitch's annoyed look with practiced ease.

Tooth smiled warmly over at Jack, glad to see that he was at ease now. Even Pitch looked less tense than when he'd arrived! It was a good thing that she and Sandy were able to take time out of their duties to hang around too. She just knew that if they did this enough, all of them would become friends.

She would make sure Bunny would be friends with _all_ of them as well, even if it killed him.

Sandy found himself having similar thoughts about Pitch.

One way or another.. He _would_ get Pitch to confide in them.

* * *

It wasn't until the beginning of May before Sandy was finally able to track Pitch down one night.

Ever since Pitch had admitted that there was a problem, Sandy had secretly begun keeping an eye out during his nightly duties for a certain nightmare spreading spirit. Sandy used to get pretty irritated with all the nightmares, but now he understood that kids actually did need a few nightmares to help them while growing up.

That still didn't stop him from spreading as many good dreams as he could though. It wasn't too late in the night, so Sandy was still hanging around Burgess. He was in a particularly good mood since had just finished spreading good dreams to Jamie and his friends.

He waved at a few of Tooth's fairies he saw flying and the tweeted at him happily. That was when something dark moving along on the ground caught his attention. It looked like someone had just stepped out of a shadow.

He only knew one person who could do that, so Sandy flew down lower to investigate. Sure enough, he caught Pitch looking around at all the houses in the neighborhood, as if deciding which child should get a nightmare first.

Pitch wearily rubbed his eyes. Even though he had caved and started using the dreamsand himself occasionally, when he didn't use it, he had horrible nightmares. It had reached the point where he wasn't sure if these nightmares were things his mind made up, or if they were actual memories his subconscious was calling forth. He hoped like hell that it was the former, but he couldn't be certain.

He scowled as he surveyed his surroundings, not noticing the golden cloud descending right behind himself. If he had been more awake, he certainly would have noticed Sanderson Mansnoozie sneaking up behind him.

But he wasn't more awake, so he was surprised by the tap on the shoulder he received. He turned around to glare at Sandy, as who else would bother him at night?

Sandy ignored Pitch's annoyed glare and gave the spirit a look. He could see that Pitch still wasn't sleeping well.

Sandy pointedly gestured at Pitch as dreamsand images appeared over his head.

Pitch sighed at Sandy's not-so-subtle hint that they would talk.

 _Now._

"There's nothing to discuss," Pitch tried telling Sandy, but Sandy merely gestured at his golden dream cloud, indicating that Pitch should get on.

There was a long, awkward moment as Pitch and Sandy stared at one another, neither one willing to budge.

Unable to stand Sandy's glares, Pitch finally looked away.

"If I do, will you _finally_ leave me alone?" Pitch said, sounding a little defeated. If he had been feeling one hundred percent, there was no way he'd let Sandy get the better of him.

Sandy nodded happily and with a less-than-pleased sigh, Pitch walked over and gingerly perched on Sandy's cloud, which had expanded to include Pitch.

Pitch tried his best not to look down as the cloud took off for Sandy's home. When Pitch finally did look down however, he was surprised to see that they were flying high above an ocean with no land in sight.

Just when Pitch was wondering where the hell Sandy was actually taking him, he spotted a golden island in the distance. It was pretty with golden sand tendrils that spread out from it, reminding Pitch a little of a starfish. He could see in the center of it was a golden house, apparently made out of Sandy's dreamsand.

Sandy had his cloud land outside his home, which was nice and not super fancy. It had enough room for Sandy and that was just fine for the Sandman.

Pitch looked around curiously after they disembarked from Sandy's dream cloud. He couldn't ever remember seeing this island before, but then again.. When did he ever venture out into the middle of the ocean?

Sandy ushered Pitch inside and to the kitchen. It wasn't long before Pitch found himself sitting at a little table with Sandy, with a steaming mug of tea sat before himself.

Pitch gave Sandy a startled look and wondered how Sandy knew that Pitch preferred tea as his favorite drink, or that this is what he did when he wanted to talk seriously with someone.

It almost made him feel like Sandy was spying on them.. Then he recalled his latest good dream, which involved this scenario with Jack. Could Sandy see what they were dreaming about? He wondered if Sandy's powers were similar to his own, since he could certainly see what children were dreaming about when he gave them nightmares.

Sandy had his own steaming mug in front of himself and he stirred his cup while waiting for it to cool down a little.

He looked up at Pitch and suddenly gave him a piercing look that Pitch didn't have to interpret.

Pitch fidgeted under Sandy's gaze and looked down at his tea.

Since when had tea time turned into silent interrogations?

* * *

Author's Note: I'm not sure how it happened, but this chapter went from me thinking Pitch would find someone to confide in, to Pitch being all stubborn and Sandy having to silently interrogate Pitch. Ah well. Tea time with Sandy for the next chapter! I wonder if I should eventually have all the Guardians have some sort of tea time with Pitch. That would be cute!

Also, all my info on Sandy's island came from the everhelpful Wikia. I did however, make up Sandy's house since there was no mention of a dwelling on there. It was described as a desert island with tendrils spreading out and Sandy could be found in the middle. I don't feel too bad for leaving it on a cliffhanger, since I know that I'll be updating soon. If Sandy's tea time doesn't hog the whole chapter, then we can skip along to Summer or at least to a certain Spring Spirit complaining..

I really like all your guys' ideas that you're giving me, so if you have any more, send them along! I could especially use ideas for future bad guys or evilness that could come their way, as while I do have a pretty good idea of what's eventually coming up, I'm not sure how to tie it all in with the Nightmares that are sneakily popping up at random intervals, or if the Nightmares are just something entire separate from this new plot that's coming up.

As always, thanks to you guys for all the reviews, faves, and follows! I'm really enthused by all the reviews I got by the last chapter, so keep it up! :)

 **Edit:** Fixed some typos!


	39. Chapter 38: Tea Time with Sandy & Invite

Author's Note: I was tempted to make this chapter even longer, but I know I'm updating soon so I decided the next chapter can have all the drama. :) Not that this one wasn't without its own drama, of course.

Now.. reviews:

kame otaku suggested that the Dream Pirates make a comeback and mess with Pitch. I won't say if this will happen.. you'll just have to wait and see.

CrossoverJunkie suggested looking up bad guys, which is an excellent idea. He also suggested using the Monkey King, and then later suggested the kids get more involved. So naturally, I had to include the kids too!

A guest suggested that Jack has a sick day, and I agree. So at some point Jack will have a sick day and get pampered by a stressed out Pitch and a not-so-helpful-but-well-meaning Lillian.

Now, on with the story!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Tea Time with Sandy & The Invitation

Pitch looked at Sandy giving him that pointed look and sighed. He looked away from Sandy and down at his tea. Once upon a time, he had been a fearless General. Since when did he let himself get intimidated by the pint-sized Sandman?

He fiddled with his mug of tea and reminded himself that there was absolutely nothing wrong with at least talking to someone about his.. issues. He had encouraged Jack to do the same not that long ago! He supposed his hesitance was that he didn't actually want to admit that he needed help. And he knew that no matter what he told Sandy about things settling down and his issues just going away, he knew this was something a little more serious. If anything, things seemed to be getting _worse_ as the days went on.

Sandy raised an eyebrow at Pitch, and Pitch sighed again.

After another moment, Pitch gathered his thoughts and finally began to speak to Sandy.

"I suppose it started after what had happened out on the lake," Pitch said as he continued to look down at his mug. He didn't think he could stand to see Sandy have any sort of pitying look aimed at him. "When I awoke, everything that had happened recently became vague.. Jack and Lillian were the bright points in my life that I clearly remembered, but most of the things I had done as Pitch Black have.. gotten extremely vague. I can't recall most of it. However, I can recall my life as Kozmotis Pitchiner very well. A little _too_ well."

Sandy's brow furrowed as he listened to Pitch. Pitch really didn't remember _anything_ he had done? No wonder he was having problems! But if he mostly remembered himself as Kozmotis, did that mean that he was Kozmotis now?

Golden symbols appeared above Sandy's head to ask just that, and after the silence stretched on, Pitch finally looked up to see Sandy's question.

Pitch shook his head sadly.

"No.. I am not the man I once was. But I remember.." his voice broke as he spoke, "..I remember how I became Pitch Black. I was such a fool.. After I heard that my Isabella and Emily Jane were.. were gone... I hunted down every last Nightmare and dream pirate and locked them all up. I thought as long as they were all locked away, I could.. prevent such a tragedy from befalling anyone else. With all that fear and evil locked up, they wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else."

Sandy nodded solemnly to Pitch's story. They had all learned what had happened to Pitch quite a long time ago, but he listened raptly anyway. He doubted he had ever heard such raw emotion from the spirit before. If only Bunny was there! If Bunny could hear Pitch speak about his former life like this, he would never have any doubts about Pitch's intentions now. But Sandy also knew that there was no way Pitch would be so open if Bunny was there, so he kept quiet and continued to listen.

"I kept my locket of Emily Jane to remind myself of why I chose to stand guard over them. As long as I remained vigilant, everything would be fine. But.. then.. I heard her."

A question mark appeared above Sandy's head as he listened.

"..Emily Jane.." Pitch whispered brokenly. "..She was calling out to me.. Calling for help. She was trapped inside and needed me desperately."

 _"Daddy, save me! I'm scared, it's dark in here!"_

 _"DADDY!"_

"I flung open the door to save her, and..." Pitch trailed off as tears rolled down his cheeks. "..She wasn't there.. Every Nightmare and dream pirate must have escaped. After that, everything became dark.. For a very, very long time."

Sandy's look softened, but he did his best to try and seem neutral. He knew that Pitch wasn't saying such things for his pity.

"Th-that day, will not.. it won't leave me a-alone," Pitch said, his voice wavering through his tears. He wiped them away, but more kept falling. "Every night I d-don't use dreamsand, I have nightmares.. Some of the th-things I see, I think are memories, but.. I can't.. I don't know for certain.."

Sandy's eyes widened as Pitch spoke. He sounded so _lost._ He knew that after everything that Pitch had gone through that having nightmares would be normal, but not like this. A thought occurred to him and quickly a golden symbol appeared above his head.

Pitch had to blink some tears away before he could properly see it, and he paused when he saw the golden figure of Mother Nature hovering over Sandy's head.

 _Mother Nature._

That was right.. Mother Nature was his Emily Jane.

Flashes of a long ago argument came to him, but he couldn't really recall what it was about.

"I remember.." he said quietly. "Emily Jane lived. She's Mother Nature.. But I know she wants nothing to do with me.. I just.. I can't remember _why!_ " Pitch exclaimed at the end as his tears finally stopped.

He banged a fist on the table, looking very upset.

"What was the _point_ of helping me, if it made me forget what I was?! How am I to avoid repeating any of my past mistakes if I can't remember them?! Why would _he_ do this to me?!"

Sandy shook his head sadly, but then perked up. He suggested that perhaps the Man in the Moon thought he was helping Pitch by making him forget. Maybe he thought Pitch would be disturbed by the memories of the things he had done as Pitch Black, and rather than be tormented by them, it would be easier for Pitch to forget.

Pitch pursed his lips and finally took a drink of his tea. Blasted moon.. of _course_ he would fail to remember that his last memories of Kozmotis Pitchiner were _horrible_. Now it was all he could think about.

 _Sometimes I wish the Moon would go -_

Sandy raised an eyebrow at Pitch's non-PG13 wish, but decided that now wasn't the time to mention that he could hear such things. Instead, Sandy suggested that Pitch establish some sort of calming routine before he went to bed. It would help relax him and make it less likely that Pitch would have nightmares. That, and a dream catcher couldn't hurt.

Sandy also suggested that instead of focusing on the sad memories of Kozmotis Pitchiner, he should focus on the happy ones. If he thought more positively of his former life, that could help too.

Pitch nodded, and took another long drink of his tea. Yes.. those were excellent suggestions that he hadn't thought of. Then the thought of the rest of the Guardians came to him and he internally winced.

"You'll keep this convesation to yourself, won't you?" he asked Sandy a little desperately.

Sandy nodded with a small smile and reached out to pat Pitch's hand. After all, even the Boogeyman needed a friend to listen to him and keep his secrets.

* * *

It was the next day that a little spirit made its way over to Jack's lake. He looked to be a little older than Jack (as most spirits were), and not very pleased to be there. He had firey red hair, eyes that looked almost orange and was wearing a fancy outfit that reminded Jack and Lillian of fire.

Unfortunately, the kids of Burgess were at the lake too. Even though it wasn't quite summer yet, it seemed like Summer was fast approaching. Jack was actually wearing a blue _t-shirt_ with his brown pants, and looked about ready to melt. He was trying to hide his condition by lounging casually in the shade of his tree by the lake while the kids all had fun swimming.

Even Lillian had gotten in on the fun by leaving her bracelet with Jack and taking a dip in the lake. She shrieked as Jamie splashed her mercilessly. She was about to retaliate when the firey spirit flew overhead and went straight to Jack.

"Who's that?" she asked no one in particular as she watched the spirit.

Jamie, who couldn't see what Lillian was looking at, just looked confused.

"Who's who?" he asked her.

"That boy," Lillian said, pointing in Jack's direction.

"Uh.. Lillian? That's Jack Frost." he told her, looking concerned. "I know it's really warm out, but you're not getting heat stroke, are you?"

Lillian ignored Jamie's comment however and swam over to the edge of the lake. She climbed out to reveal her pretty pink swim suit and walked over to Jack and the spirit as she practically started steaming in the sun. When had it gotten so _humid_ out? She frowned as she realized it wasn't even technically Summer yet. She was definitely going to have to have a word with August about this.

"Jack Frost?" the spirit asked as he landed down in front of Jack.

Jack's eyes widened when he saw the familiar spirit, but then he smirked. Anyone who knew Jack as more than a troublemaker would realize he was just covering up how he _really_ was feeling, but unfortunately to others it just made him look cocky and smug. And when most of the other spirits _hated_ Jack, that was not a good thing.

"Sparky!" Jack exclaimed. "It's been so long! About fifty years, right?"

The firey spirit narrowed his eyes at Jack.

"The name is Lucian!" he snapped. "And here!"

He thrust an envelope at Jack, carelessly brushing his fingers against Jack's.

Jack winced as Lucian's fingers left red welts on his hand. Naturally a lesser summer spirit would burn the Spirit of Winter. Not to mention that Jack had gotten on Lucian's bad side about a minute after they first met. It also didn't help that Jack refused to call Lucian by his actual name. Jack liked 'Sparky' better, since Lucian looked more like a fire spirit than anything.

Lucian turned and almost walked right into a curious Lillian. Lucian took in her green eyes, wild, wet curls and all the spring flowers at her feet.

"Child of Spring?" he asked her impatiently.

"Y-yeah?" Lillian said hesitantly.

"Take it," Lucian handed her an envelope and before either of them could say anything, the spirit took off.

"What's going on?" Jamie asked as he and the other kids got out of the water. They all wandered over by Jack and Lillian, looking at the envelopes that seemed to appear out of nowhere curiously.

Jack was careful to hide his hand a bit, so the kids wouldn't see his burns.

"It's nothing," Jack said with a smile at them. "Just some Seasonal stuff."

"Seasonal stuff?" Jamie echoed curiously.

"Yeah - " Jack started to explain but was cut off by a certain child spirits shout.

"COOL! We got invited to Mother Nature's!" Lillian exclaimed excitedly.

This was so _awesome_.

Lillian waved her invitation around, and Jamie snagged it to see what it said.

It said:

 _Child of Spring,_

 _You are cordially invited to the Meeting of the Seasonals, to discuss your duties as well as your expectations as a new Spirit of Spring. This meeting takes place every fifty years. If you agree to go, hold this letter and say "Mother Nature, I accept your invitation" and you will be whisked off to my palace. The meeting takes place on May 7th. I expect to see you there._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Mother Nature_

"Hey!" Lillian exclaimed and quickly grabbed her letter back. "I need this to get to the meeting!"

"Wow, so there _is_ a Mother Nature! Is she like your actual _mom_ then?" Jamie asked excitedly.

Jamie's friends looked interested as well, but they also exchanged looks behind Jamie's back. He had that same tone he always got when he was ranting about Bigfoot.

"Um.." Lillian bit her lip and looked to Jack for help.

"In a way," Jack said. "She's in charge of all the seasons, so she looks out for the Seasonal Spirits and makes sure that we're doing our duties properly. That's why there's a meeting every fifty years."

Wait a minute..

Lillian narrowed her eyes at this.

"If she looks out for ALL the spirits, then why does she let everyone be mean to you?!"

The kids all looked at one another. Other spirits were mean to _their_ Jack Frost?

Jack looked frustrated and ran a hand through his hair while he held his staff in the crook of his elbow and his letter in the other hand.

"She doesn't _let_ them," he said testily to Lillian. Once he noticed the kids' shocked expressions though, he quickly changed his own expression to a smirk. "Now.. you wanted to play in the lake, right?"

He didn't necessarily like the water, or the splashing.. Or any part of this day at all really, since this was the exact opposite of anything he liked to do, but he knew that the kids and Lillian were having fun and that was enough for him.

He was about to suggest they put their letters away and Lillian have another water fight, when Pitch stepped out of the shadow behind him.

Pitch had decided to test his theory about the sun, and as the only thing that bothered him about being outside at this time was the ungodly _brightness_ , he took that to mean that he was right and he could now stand being out in the sun.

But it didn't mean that he had to like it.

The kids all gasped as Pitch stepped out. Not only was it still weird to see a non-gray Pitch, it was weird to see him out in _daylight._

Jack and Lillian turned to see Pitch, who was trying his best to look awake and well rested.

"What are you doing out here?" Pitch said sternly to Jack. "It must be at least eighty degrees!"

"Eheh," Jack said sheepishly. "I was heading inside soon."

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"Hey, look!" Lillian said excitedly and ran over to Pitch, waving her letter under his nose. "Jack and I get to see Mother Nature!"

Pitch's eyes widened and he suddenly froze.

Jamie was astonished to see that Pitch almost looked.. _afraid._

"Isn't that awesome?" Lillian continued happily.

Pitch stared and then shook his head, as if shaking his thoughts away.

"Yes," he said faintly. "That's.. interesting."

Mentally shaking himself he went back into Adult Mode.

"Now get inside, you're all going to get heat stroke." he looked over at the children. "That goes for you as well."

Before the kids could protest, Pitch had ushered Jack and Lillian off into the shadow of the tree, leaving the kids to get home by themselves.

Jamie gave his friends a look.

"Was it just me, or did Pitch actually look _scared?_ "

"It wasn't just you," Claude piped up.

"But the _Boogeyman_ can't get scared!" Caleb piped up.

Pippa looked thoughtful at this.

"If he gets scared, do you think he has nightmares too?"

"No way!" Jamie burst out laughing. " _Pitch?_ "

A pair of golden eyes appearing in the shadow and the sound of his cold voice made them all jump.

"You do realize that I can hear you." Pitch said to them, his voice as frosty as Jack's powers. "And that it's quite rude to talk about someone behind their back."

The kids all stared at the shadow in shock.

"..Sorry?" Jamie finally offered weakly.

The golden eyes appeared about ready to leave, but gave the kids one last pointed look.

"And _everyone_ gets afraid."

"But - " Jamie said, when Pitch interrupted.

"Fear has been around as long as time itself," he snapped impatiently at them, disliking that they had been casually discussing what was wrong with him the instant his back was turned, "and is a natural emotion. Now I suggest you all return home before you turn as red as North's sleigh."

With that, the eyes disappeared from the shadow.

Cupcake spoke up after that.

"He sounds a little edgy too."

* * *

Author's Note: Bet you didn't see that coming! And don't worry, Lucian is just a messenger boy and won't be a major part of the story. I figure minor spirits and little sprites help the Seasonals. There's a reason you haven't seen any until now, so you'll find out why later. And CrossoverJunkie, you don't bother me! If you noticed, I tend to agree with you a lot and you help me add little tidbits to the story. :) The next chapter will be posted Friday and it will probably have a Jack sick day and the meeting at some point, of course. I decided to include it after I read a little about Emily Jane's backstory some more, but since I haven't read the books I'm probably butchering some things, so bear with me please.

That said, if you guys have any other ideas, send them my way! If you also have any Mother Nature suggestions, since she's coming up VERY soon, now would be the time to tell me! Thanks you guys for all your follows, faves, and reviews.


	40. Interlude 2: His Only Daughter

Author's Note: So I started writing a proper chapter and got about halfway through when I decided I couldn't finish. I'll work on the rest later, I promise. It's just that Sick Jack took over the whole thing and it was turning into more of a _thing_ than I thought and I really just wanted to go to Mother Nature and.. ugh! So I wrote you guys an Interlude instead, featuring Mother Nature. I'm actually super busy this weekend, so consider this tiny little non-chapter my apology and I'll post a real chapter either Saturday or Monday.

The chapter title hints at what's coming up, as well as Mother Nature's brooding. I apologize profusely if she's out of character. The Wiki said she had dark hair, so I went with that. I'll describe her palace in more detail later, when Jack and Lillian visit. Yes, I wanted to set up some drama, as you can probably tell. I hope I'm not ruining it with this chapter, but I wanted to hint at what was coming up.

Now.. Reviews!

CrossoverJunkie gave me advice on Mother Nature and suggested I take elements from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics and have something like The Endless in fic. I'm really uncertain about this, since I know NOTHING about any of this, and it sounds kinda weird to me. I'll have to research this a lot more before I decide one way or the other. For now I'll stick with what's going on plot-wise. If I throw this in, it probably won't happen until later. Oh, and yes. I assumed you were a guy, but I don't mind if you're female. But don't get mad if I accidentally refer to you as a "he" at some point. :)

The Skeleton Girl thought Jack and Lillian should sneak out to go to the Seasonal Meeting, suggesting that they could have had an argument with Pitch and that he would find their invitations, and then go crash the party. Mother Nature would probably be shocked and accidentally call him "Father" or "Dad" and then the chapter would end on a total cliffhanger. This idea clashes with the plot I had in mind. I won't end the chapter that way, since I already have an ending in mind for the chapter, but I will borrow the sneaking out part. With the way things are going with Jack in the actual chapter, he's going to HAVE to sneak out! Would Pitch go crash the meeting though? I'm undecided on that. But thank you for your suggestion!

Cupcake thinks that Jack and Lillian should be late to the meeting and something humorous should happen with some of the other spirits. I admit, I am considering them sneaking out, AND being late. It would make sense, even if it isn't very nice to either Jack or Lillian, since everyone else would already be there and glaring at them.

Brenne is wondering about Mother Nature's lack of action in protecting Jack or helping him when other spirits/sprites have been mean to him. We'll see what she has to say when I post up the actual chapter!

On with the story! Or.. in this case, on with the interlude!

Interlude 2: His Only Daughter

Mother Nature sat in her palace, which was surrounded by lush greenery. Tall columns flanked the entrance, but it was impossible to tell what color they originally were, as they were covered with vines and flowers. In fact, the whole palace was covered with plants from a variety of the seasons.

The inside was just as colorful as the outside, with various murals adorning the walls, depicting various natural phenomena and seasons. In the heart of the palace was Mother Nature's throne and it was there that she sat, thinking about the Meeting of the Seasonals which was to take place in only a few short days.

She looked thoughtful as she brushed her dark hair out of her face. She looked a lot like her father, Pitch Black with her dark hair and dark eyes. While her father's were golden, her eyes were a much darker brownish color*. She drummed her fingers as various small spirits flitted about, gathering there before their respective Seasonals arrived.

A small frown appeared as she watched the activity in her throne room. The lesser Seasonal Spirits and Sprites usually arrived before the main Seasonals. Sometimes there would be bickering between the different Seasonals, and it was always entertaining to see them interact with one another.

However, this time she could only see a few Summer and Fall Seasonals. The Winter Sprites appeared to have vanished a few years before Jack Frost was born, but there should have been plenty of Spring Spirits and Sprites around.

Mother Nature drummed her fingers on the arm rest of her throne as she thought of all the strange things that have been happening recently, and also of the disturbing rumors she had heard.

Her frown deepened as she thought of the new Spring Spirit. She had considered watching over this Spirit, as she could do so unseen, but the Spirit was always around _that_ area (or so she heard, she hadn't yet checked for herself) and she tried to avoid _that_ area as much as she could.

No, she did _not_ want to run into her Father.

She felt a surge of anger as she thought of the young spirit, and then Pitch. She had also heard rumors of Jack Frost hanging around Pitch.

Her eyes darkened as clouds gathered around her palace. There was a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning as a storm seemed to be gathering, the weather mirroring her rapidly darkening mood.

She had sworn to be neutral in matters concerning the Guardians and Pitch. But when it came to Pitch Black and other spirits..

She couldn't help but be a little possessive.

Some of the spirits squealed with fright as the lightning crackled ominously. Mother Nature sat stoically on her throne as she thought about her duties to her Seasonals versus her ties to Pitch.

"For good or ill," she murmured to herself, "he is _my_ Father."

* * *

*I suck at descriptions and realized that sentence was awful. And short. So I added onto it and made up her eye color as I don't remember if it was mentioned what color eyes she had. So there. This is AU after all.

Author's Note: Ugh, it's so short. But I figured it's better than nothing, right? Also.. dun dun duuuun. If you've googled Mother Nature and looked at the Wiki article about her, then you can probably figure out where I got the inspiration for her behavior. Even though things took place so LONG ago, I figure her feelings on this matter probably haven't changed much. Not to mention I bet she and Pitch still have a lot of unresolved issues. Although I'm not sure how much she keeps tabs on Pitch, but the Wiki says she can get reports from weather phenomena, so I'm guessing this is how she gets her info about him. That, and other spirits. I'm guessing she doesn't care much if MiM helped him out and probably doesn't think he's capable of being redeemed, as sad as that is. There definitely needs to be a family reunion at some point.

Oh yes.. Muwhaha.

I mean.. ignore the maniacal laughter. I'll use my postponement of the chapter to plot the plot some more.

If you have _more_ suggestions, feel free to send them my way! The next chapter is still featuring Sick Jack (whiny and cute all rolled into one!) with Pitch and the Guardians getting involved, mentions of the odd weather (darn you global warming!) and then.. the Meeting! And all the drama that will bring. To make up for the shortness, I'll make the next chapter extra long.

And lastly, thanks to all the follows, faves and reviews. I love checking my email and seeing all the Child of Spring spam from the faves. :) Speaking of which, we are now at 114 followers, 109 favorites and a whopping 214 reviews! I think CrossoverJunkie was actually the 200th reviewer! Go you!


	41. Chapter 39: Jack's Ill & Pitch's Child

Author's Note: Holy.. man. This chapter is LONG. It's over 5400 words and that's WITHOUT my author notes. I didn't even begin to get into the real drama at the Seasonal Meeting either, as a whole scene with Bunny and Lillian popped up without my permission and then Pitch had to freak out..

Whew! Anyway: Reviews.

A guest was wondering if Mother Nature was mad at the Seasonals or Guardians and the answer is no. If you looked into Mother Nature's info you miiight be able to figure out my plans, but I'll tell you that right now she's just a little unhappy with Lillian and Jack for certain reasons. That's all I can divulge. It'll become clear in the next few chapters, I promise.

CrossoverJunkie figured that Pitch would be rightfully super stressed/distressed about Jack and Lillian sneaking off, so we'll see how he is later on. :)

Now, I present to you: The super special long chapter of **doom.**

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Jack's Ill and Pitch's Daughter

Jack wiped his forehead as they all exited the shadow into Pitch's lair. He barely had time to glimpse the inside when Pitch was shoving him back into the shadow.

"Wha..?!" Jack exclaimed as he stumbled backwards out of the shadow.

He looked around and found himself at snowy white expanse of the North Pole, with North's place nearby. Usually if he had to go any place cool, he would go to Antarctica. His brow furrowed in confusion. He knew that Pitch didn't really like the Guardians, so why was the North Pole the first place he could think of?

Jack shrugged and went to go play in the snow before announcing his arrival to North. His cheeks were still flushed from being in the heat too long and he did feel a little strange still. Usually when the temperature crept up into the mid-seventies in Burgess, he would take off to cooler climates.

He had only stuck around since it wasn't quite near his usual time to leave, but the weather was acting more strange than normal. He had heard people talking about 'global warming,' but Jack knew that something else was up.

His mind flashed back to his invitation to the Seasonal Meeting that was coming up. May 7th.. that was only in a few days. Mother Nature hadn't given them much notice this time. Normally they got the invitation at least a week in advance.

He sat in the snow and fell backwards with a plop and stared up at the sky, wondering why Mother Nature had waited until the last minute this time.

He closed his eyes in contemplation and the next time he opened them, he found himself in an unfamiliar room.

He sat up, surprised he had fallen asleep. He blinked and looked down, as he realized he was indoors now, in a bed and wearing pajamas. He looked around, seeing that the window in the room was open, to make it colder for him. He leaned back against the pillow again, and wiped his forehead.

Even though the room must be pretty cold, he still felt a little warm. The wind ruffled his hair, and Jack could tell by its wintery whisper that it was worried about him.

"I'm okay," Jack said softly to it. "It must have been the heat from earlier, I guess."

As Jack finished reassuring the wind, the door to the room opened with a loud bang and a worried Phil rushed in. He saw that Jack was awake and began to rapidly speak in yetish, waving his arms for emphasis.

Jack tilted his head in confusion and Phil huffed in annoyance. Before Jack could ask what was going on, Phil stomped out and soon returned, dragging North along with him.

North looked relieved to see that Jack was awake.

"Jack! Is good to see you are finally awake. Phil was concerned when he saw something blue outside in the snow. He says you were flushed and looked warm. Is very cold outside, how can this be? Are you not feeling well?"

Jack shrugged.

"It's so hot in Burgess," Jack explained. "I was outside for too long. Pitch made me come here, so I thought being outside for awhile would help, but.." he shrugged again. "I still feel a little strange. It can't be a cold, since I don't get cold."

North nodded.

"You do seem to be very warm however. Even though room is freezing, you still do not look cold enough. I'm afraid I know very little about matters such as these. Bunny knows more than the rest of us. Would you let him take a look and see if he can help?"

Jack looked uncertain at this. Even though North was being very nice about it, he really just wanted to go home and crawl into his own bed. Pitch always seemed to know what to do.. But Pitch had sent him away this time, so maybe Pitch wouldn't know how to deal with an unwell Jack.

Jack reluctantly nodded and gave North his consent.

It seemed like it only took a few seconds for Bunny to get there, but Jack had closed his eyes again and unknowingly fell back asleep. He awoke to the sound of Bunny entering his room.

"B-Bunny.." Jack said, and tried to sit up a little. His cheeks were warm, and his normally bright blue eyes looked a little dull. Jack's voice also sounded a little rough, as if his throat were scratchy.

"Hey there, Frostbite," Bunny said gently to Jack. Poor kid. It looked like he had a heck of a cold. Bunny walked over to Jack's bed and soon had taken Jack's temperature. "Hm.." Bunny said as he looked at the thermometer. "Yer temperature's cooler than a human's, but I'm not sure what it's supposed ta be at. Judgin' by the way ya look, yer definitely runnin' a temperature. Does yer throat hurt?"

Jack nodded, looking miserable.

"Can I go home..? I want Pitch," Jack said softly in a small voice.

Bunny frowned a little.

"Burgess is a sauna. I know Pitch's place is underground, is it cool enough fer ya?"

Jack shrugged.

"I can make my room cold enough for me. I'll make it snow."

His eyes started to close again while he was speaking. He was really tired and didn't feel up to answering all of Bunny's questions. He just wanted to go home and sleep for the next few years or so.

Bunny looked hesitant at Jack using his powers.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," he started to say but Jack's eyes flew open at that.

"N-no! I want to go _home!_ "

Bunny and North exchanged a look. Jack was sick and wasn't up to listening to logic. They knew how it was with kids. All kids wanted to be in their own bed and have their parents take care of them. Pitch was practically a parent to Jack, so it only made sense that Jack would want Pitch there.

It made sense to North, anyway. Bunny wasn't so certain.

Jack's lip started to tremble and he was looking very upset.

Bunny sighed. Jack Frost looked more like a kid than ever, especially with that lost look on his face.

"Tell ya what," Bunny said, trying to calm Jack down. "What if Pitch came here? It'll probably take ya a few days to get over yer cold. You and Pitch can stay here, where it's cold. Lillian too, if she wants."

North was quick to agree with this.

"I have many rooms! It would be fun, no? Once you are better, you can all work on Christmas presents."

Jack thought about it for all of two seconds. He decided he didn't really care where he was, as long as Pitch was there. He nodded at Bunny and North.

* * *

Pitch had been worried long before he shoved Jack in the shadow, sending him off to the North Pole. Lillian had always insisted every year that Jack had kept his lake cool enough for himself, and Pitch had believed her. Which never lead to Pitch realizing that Lillian actually snuck off with Jack every summer to colder climates.

Now that Jack was living at Pitch's, they wouldn't be able to do this. It was one of the reasons that Jack had stuck around despite the climbing temperatures. Jack also didn't want to disappoint his new believers or Lillian.

Pitch hadn't been worried at first, as he imagined the simmering temperatures all around except for at Jack's lake, which he imagined to be a small winter wonderland. It wasn't until Pitch had that sinking feeling that something was wrong, that he started to worry.

He was especially worried as lunch came and went and neither Jack nor Lillian came back to the lair to check in with him. So naturally, he had gone to Jack's lake to discover that not only was it _not_ a winter wonderland, but that Jack was melting in the shade of a tree while Lillian (very irresponsibly, in his opinion) was busy splashing around in the lake with Jamie and the kids.

Pitch was so upset he could barely contain himself as he grabbed Jack and Lillian, roughly pulling them into the shadow. He had immediately shoved Jack back into the shadow once they were in the lair and sent him off the North Pole in the hopes that if there were anything wrong with Jack, that North would immediately spot it and help the winter spirit.

It was immediately after that, that he had inadvertently heard Jamie and the kids talking about him via the shadow and with his nerves already a mess from anxiety over Jack, he had snapped at them before returning back to Lillian at the lair.

He had started pacing around his globe room, half wondering if he should have followed Jack to the North Pole.

Lillian, who wasn't used to such a worried Pitch, watched Pitch anxiously.

"Um.. Pitch?" she asked hesitantly, hoping to snap him out of it.

Unfortunately, it just caused Pitch to take his temper out on her.

"What were you thinking?!" Pitch said as he shot Lillian a glare. "You _know_ Jack is a WINTER spirit, and yet you were _playing_ while Jack was busy melting in the heat!"

Lillian's eyes widened as Pitch yelled at her. Pitch hardly ever yelled at her and this had to be the harshest scolding she had ever recieved from him.

"I thought you were more responsible than that! Now Jack is probably melting in the North Pole right now, and I swear if anything happens to him it will be _all your fault!_ "

Pitch probably would have continued ranting, but it was at that time that a bright light suddenly appeared as a portal from the North Pole formed in Pitch's globe room.

"Pitch, Jack is needing you!" North exclaimed as he left he portal, which closed behind himself. "Come, we can return using snow - "

Pitch didn't even wait for North to finish his sentence as he hastily grabbed a stricken Lillian and dragged her through one of the shadows in the corner of the room.

" - globe." North finished, then blinked as he noticed he was alone in the room. Realizing that Pitch had dashed off without him he shrugged and tossed down another snow globe, after telling it to take him back to his workshop.

* * *

Pitch practically flew out of the shadow in the globe room at the North's, dragging Lillian behind him.

"Where is he?!" Pitch demanded.

Thankfully Phil had anticipated a distraught Pitch arriving soon after it had been decided that North was going to fetch him. Bunny had been left behind to look after Jack. As a Pooka warrior, Bunny was used to taking care of others' wounds and illnesses and thus this had also extended into his life as a Guardian.

Thankfully as spirits however, they rarely got sick. Bunny could only presume that the heat from Burgess had lowered Jack's defenses, thus causing him to be more susceptible to catching the nasty cold he currently had.

Bunny watched Jack as he had Jack drink another glass of water, insisting that Jack drink as much fluids as he could.

Jack couldn't complain too much, as the coldness of the water felt good on his sore throat.

Even though he had been expecting Pitch, Jack wasn't quite expecting Pitch to come bursting into the room at full speed.

So it was when Pitch burst into the room after being lead there by Phil that Jack jumped in surprise, startled by it. Thankfully had just finished off his water, otherwise he would have spilled it all over himself.

Pitch let go of Lillian's arm and practically shoved Bunny aside as he hurried over to Jack's bedside. Pitch reached out and felt Jack's forehead with the back of his hand.

Pitch frowned as he noticed that Jack was far too warm.

"How are you feeling?" Pitch asked Jack, in a demanding tone.

Jack flinched a little at the harsh demand from Pitch. Pitch never spoke to them that way.

Bunny noticed that Pitch was not only freaking out Jack, but he was also freaking out poor Lillian, who was shivering in Jack's room in her swim suit still. Pitch had been so worried, that he hadn't even given a second thought to Lillian's attire.

"Hey, it's alright," Bunny said, frowning at Pitch. "Jack's got a bad cold, but it's not fatal. I can go ta my Warren and fix a remedy for 'im, no problem."

Pitch barely spared Bunny a glance as he continued to look at Jack.

" _Well?_ "

"My throat's sore and I feel sort of weird," Jack admitted to Pitch.

At this, Lillian burst into tears.

"I-it's all my f-fault..!" she sobbed as she ran over to Jack. She flung herself onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Jack, hugging him close. "You wouldn't have gotten sick if it wasn't f-for me!"

Jack's eyes widened as Lillian shook from the force of her sobs and also from her being cold.

"Lillian," Jack said softly to her. "It's not your fault. I _wanted_ to stay."

But Lillian wouldn't hear of it, and she refused to leave Jack's bedside until Bunny pried her away. He shot Pitch a look, but Pitch was too busy hovering around Jack, looking worried.

Sighing, Bunny looked down at the shivering Child of Spring in his arms.

"Hey, ya want ta help me get some medicine together fer Jack in my Warren?" Bunny asked Lillian.

Looking upset still, Lillian nodded to Bunny. She didn't want to admit it either, but Pitch's complete dismissal of her in favor of Jack also hurt. She knew Pitch didn't _really_ like Jack more than her, but in moments like this, sometimes it _seemed_ like he did.

Bunny held Lillian close, hoping to warm her a little with his fur at least.

"How 'bout on the way, we stop at yer place and get ya some warmer clothes, yeah? At least have ya change into somethin' dry."

Lillian's lip trembled as she watched Pitch hover around Jack, having Jack lay back in bed. Pitch was tempted to cover Jack up, but he compromised by covering Jack with a thin sheet. He asked Phil to bring in some snow from outside to place on the bed with Jack.

Pitch didn't even realize that Lillian was leaving with Bunny and as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks she nodded.

She tried to tell herself that it didn't matter. What mattered right now was helping Jack to get better. If she wasn't so selfish, Jack wouldn't even be sick right now.

Lillian buried her face in Bunny's fur as Bunny tapped the ground with his foot, creating at tunnel right in the room, a no-no at North's. But he knew that North would understand.

 _Jack doesn't deserve a friend like me_ , Lillian thought as she mentally berated herself. All of Lillian's worry and fear were at the forefront of her mind as Bunny raced through the tunnel with Lillian in his arms.

It was only a matter of minutes before they arrived in Pitch's lair, but when they did, Bunny's ears twitched.

The lair wasn't quite as dark and gloomy as it used to be, since Pitch had several oil lamps around. Bunny snorted as he noticed Pitch forgot to put them out, but thankfully since most of the furniture and walls were made of rock, they didn't really have to worry about anything catching fire.

Bunny was about to set Lillian down on her feet when his ears twitched again.

Did he seriously hear something _neigh?_

Bunny was about to comment on it when the cold Lillian wriggled out of his arms and raced off for her room. Thankfully she had still been holding her letter, and she carefully tucked it into the pocket of her dress. Hoping Jack hadn't lost his, she wondered how she and Jack were going to get to the Meeting, since Pitch was so much into Adult Mode now that there was no way he'd ever let Jack attend the Meeting, and Lillian wasn't interested in going without him.

Lillian brushed her wet curls with a hair brush as she suddenly felt guilt creep in. Here Jack was, super sick with a cold and all she could think about was not wanting to go to a meeting by herself. Sighing in disgust she finished putting on a dress before grabbing her warmest winter cloak in concession to the coldness of the North Pole.

She was about to leave her room, when she heard the stamp of a hoof. She turned, and practically came face to face with a Nightmare.

Her eyes widened as she saw the monstrous black horse. She didn't remember ever seeing them before, since all her memories of the Nightmares were very fuzzy. Making a frightened squeak, Lillian took a step back.

With its golden eyes blazing malevolently, the Nightmare stepped towards her.

Lillian took another step back and let out an earsplitting shriek when the Nightmare snapped at her. Barely avoiding getting bit, Lillian turned and ran.

Bunny was trying to investigate where exactly he had heard the neighing, when he heard Lillian shriek. Concerned for her safety, Bunny took off towards the sound.

Lillian tried to aim a blast of spring magic at the evil looking horse, when she realized to her horror that Jack still had her bracelet. She had given it to him for safe keeping while she had gone swimming.

"BUNN - OOF!" Lillian cried out, as her scream for help turned into a muffled thump as she ran headlong into Bunny.

Bunny gasped as Lillian ran into him, but it only took a split second for him to realize that a Nightmare was right on her tail. He quickly shoved Lillian behind him and threw one of his boomerangs at the Nightmare, causing it to disintegrate in a shower of black sand.

"I thought those things were gone!" Bunny fumed as he caught his boomerang and sheathed it. He glanced back behind himself to see a pale Lillian, staring wide-eyed at where the Nightmare had been.

Oh yeah. Bunny had forgotten that Pitch, Jack and Lillian all had some form of amnesia thanks to the Man in the Moon.

"Hey, look. It's gonna be alright," Bunny said gently to her, trying to avoid having her freak out. Judging from the terrified look on Lillian's face however, that wasn't going to happen.

"Wh-what was that?!" Lillian cried out, as suddenly more neighing could be heard. She didn't realize it, but all the emotions from Pitch earlier, combined with her own terror now were calling the remaining Nightmares right into the lair.

Bunny didn't have time to answer as he found himself fighting off more Nightmares. It wasn't until he heard Lillian cry out in alarm that he realized the little spring spirit was in danger.

"Use yer powers!" Bunny instructed as he threw his boomerangs at more Nightmares. How had this many gotten away from them?!

"I can't!" came Lillian's panicked reply as she dodged a particularly vicious bite from a Nightmare.

"Crikey," Bunny muttered to himself. Catching his returning boomerangs, he tapped the ground and then quickly grabbed Lillian, jumping down into the tunnel.

Thankfully the tunnel closed as soon as they were inside, preventing the few remaining Nightmares from following them.

As they jumped out of the tunnel and into Bunny's Warren, he couldn't help but wonder what _else_ was going to happen to them.

He had no idea how much he would come to regret that thought.

* * *

North hadn't much luck getting Pitch to stop overwhelming poor Jack, so he had resorted to setting off the aurora and calling in the other Guardians to help him out. Tooth and Sandy had arrived at about the same time while North explained what was happening.

Sandy's eyes widened as he realized what was going on. Pitch was very stressed by his memories of becoming Pitch Black, in which he thought his daughter, Emily Jane, was being held captive in the prison where the Nightmares and dream pirates were kept. That, combined with everything else that had been going on was causing Pitch to become extremely clingy to poor, sick Jack.

Jack wasn't sure what to do with this extremely clingy Pitch as he wasn't used to this sort of mothering at all. He shot the Guardians a "help me!" look when they entered the room.

After trying to tell Pitch that Jack would be alright and Bunny would be able to get him fixed up in no time, only to have Pitch essentially ignore them and demand that Jack close his eyes _right this minute_ and rest, Sandy decided to take matters into his own hands.

He formed a ball of dreamsand and expertly tossed it so that it hit Pitch square on his head. The ball then bounced off Pitch and hit Jack.

Satisfied with his handiwork Sandy dusted his hands off as both Pitch and Jack collapsed on the bed, with golden dreams above their heads. Jack's golden dream had him playing with Pitch and Lillian happily, while Pitch's dream was very different.

Sandy was surprised to see that in Pitch's dream, a golden Pitch was sitting with a woman and a little girl. They had the child sitting inbetween them and the golden Pitch was animatedly telling the child a story, as she appeared to be listening with rapt attention.

With a start, Sandy suddenly realized that Pitch was dreaming about his former family. A sad smile tugged at his lips as he silently watched Pitch and Jack dream.

* * *

Freaked out from the earlier attack, Lillian clung to Bunny as Bunny showed her where his private gardens and home was kept. Bunny's house was a small cottage of sorts, completely with a few bedrooms and kitchens. If she hadn't been so frightened, Lillian would have found it amusing to see that Bunny slept in some sort of nest.

Bunny had Lillian sit down in the kitchen, as he prepared the herbal remedy for Jack. It was an old recipe, one he always used on the sick kits once upon a time. He only hoped that it would work the same on a sick winter spirit as it had once worked on a sick Pooka kit.

Bunny worked quickly and efficiently as a subdued Lillian watched Bunny prepare everything.

"Bunny..?" Lillian quietly asked.

"Yeah?" Bunny responded, sounding distracted.

"Wh.. what were those things?" Lillian asked with a shiver. Those horse things were _scary._

Bunny paused in preparing the remedy to glance at Lillian. She still looked a little pale and despite the warm cloak she was wearing, he saw her shiver.

Poor kid didn't even remember what the Nightmares were.

"Those were Nightmares," Bunny said. "They're dark creatures that are attracted ta fear. Ya don't remember, but there were a ton of 'em runnin' around Burgess around Easter. I thought we had defeated 'em all, but I guess we missed a few."

Lillian clasped her hands together as she shivered again, looking for something for her nervous hands to do.

"But why were they in our home?" she asked him desperately, not realizing that the lair had been crawling with them before.

"Ya'd have to ask Pitch that, but I don't think he remembers anymore," Bunny said unhelpfully as he returned to making Jack's cold remedy. Soon he had finished and had it placed in a steaming mug.

"We're gonna hafta take a snow globe back, since I don't want this ta spill," Bunny told Lillian. "And don't worry, we'll make sure yer home is clear after we get Jack all better."

Still looking uncertain, Lillian nodded and followed Bunny through the portal that appeared when Bunny threw down a globe.

* * *

Bunny was less than amused to come back to find North, Tooth and Sandy all standing in Jack's room, watching Jack and Pitch sleep. Bunny had complained that it'd be hard give Jack the remedy with him sound asleep, but with Tooth holding Jack's head up, they managed.

Bunny told the others that Jack needed plenty of rest and suggested that the sleeping Pitch be placed in another room. He also told Lillian that she shouldn't hang around Jack too much, or she ran the risk of catching Jack's cold too.

But Lillian refused to listen to that order and over the next few days, she spent as much time in Jack's room as she possibly could.

Thankfully by the time that a few days had gone by, Jack's fever had broken and thanks to Bunny's remedy, he already seemed to be on the mend. Unfortunately for everyone else, this meant that Jack was bored. And a bored Jack was a troublesome one.

It was also difficult for Jack and Lillian to talk about the Meeting, as once Pitch had been convinced to stop hovering so much had told Lillian and Jack that in no uncertain terms were they going to the Seasonal Meeting. No way whatsoever.

So it was in the very early morning of May 7th that Jack and Lillian were plotting. Jack still felt a little icky, but his throat wasn't as sore and he didn't feel too warm anymore.

It was because of this that Pitch had seen to it that Jack's window was now shut and locked, to prevent the winter spirit from sneaking out. Jack had retaliated by turning his room into a winter wonderland, with piles of snow everywhere.

It was because of this that Lillian had her cloak on with the hood up and her gloves.

"I'll get in trouble if I don't go, right?" Lillian asked Jack who looked uneasy.

"Mother Nature won't be happy if you miss it," Jack said to Lillian.

Lillian sighed at this.

"There's no way Pitch will let you go while you're still sick."

She had gathered together their invitations and Lillian was holding hers, while Jack had his on his lap.

"Pitch will understand that I _have_ to go," she said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself. "How do I go again?"

Jack gestured at the letter.

"All you have to do is say 'Mother Nature, I accept your invitation,' and then poof! You're at her palace."

Lillian quickly repeated the phrase and it was as Mother Nature's magic swept him away too, that Jack realized his mistake. All you had to do was touch the letter and say the phrase, and Jack had the letter in his lap.

* * *

Lillian's jaw dropped as Jack and Lillian both appeared outside of Mother Nature's palace. They appeared to be near a jungle maybe, since there was lush foliage everywhere, as well as plenty of trees.

The palace was covered in an assortment of flowers, plants and vines all from the various seasons. Lillian was trying to figure out how this was actually possible, when she noticed that the temperature wasn't quite Spring, but it wasn't super hot like Summer. It was slightly cool like maybe in early Fall, but crisp enough to be comfortable for Jack.

Jack blushed in embarrassment as he realized that he had arrived to a Seasonal Meeting in _pajamas_ and he didn't have his staff. When he first arrived at the North Pole, he had clung to his staff as his one comfort, but eventually the Guardians had convinced him that it would be better for his staff if he left it leaning up against the wall.

Feeling rather powerless without his staff, he quickly lead Lillian inside the palace. Her gasp, drew his attention and he smirked a bit.

"I know, right?" he said, addressing her awe of the place.

As Jack lead her through the palace, she marveled at the various rooms they passed. There seemed to be a room dedicated to each season. The Spring room had all sorts of lovely spring plants around as well as what appeared to be a blossoming tree in the corner, while the Summer room had plenty of windows to let in the light and various Summer plants, as well as a small pond. The Fall room had leaves carved intricately into the ceiling as well as several pumpkins and even a scarecrow.

Speaking of the ceiling, Jack directed Lillian's attention the ceiling in the hall. She gasped again as she saw the very long mural painted on it. She realized that she was looking at the pictures of all the Seasonal Spirits there ever was. They each had their name painted nearby their picture. As they drew to the end of the seemingly neverending ceiling mural, Lillian pointed up at the ceiling suddenly.

"Your picture is there, Jack!" she said delightedly as she pointed.

Jack chuckled at Lillian's enthusiasm.

"After today, your picture will be up there too. We use our power to create our own picture. And since you and I are the newest spirits, our pictures get to be right next to each other."

Lillian was ecstatic about this and she practically skipped into Mother Nature's throne room, where all the other spirits were already gathered.

The various Summer and Fall spirits and sprites all stopped chattering to one another as they all turned as one to stare at the late arrivals.

August Bay and Jasper paused in their conversation to look at the troublesome Winter and Spring spirit.

"Now that you all have arrived," Mother Nature said as she stood from her throne, her tone even and kind, "Let us begin our Seasonal Meeting."

* * *

Lillian shot Jack another look as Jasper droned on and on and _on_ about all the leaves that had been painted last Fall. August had talked incessantly about all the surfing he had done, and let the lesser Summer spirits explain about the Summer they had spread.

Not able to handle yet another detailed description of a leaf, Lillian interrupted the meeting.

"August started Summer early in Burgess!" Lillian said in a loud accusing tone as she pointed at August.

"Excuse me," August said snootily to her, "But I've been in California and my Summer sprites have been busy elsewhere."

"But it's been over eighty degrees there!" Lillian exclaimed.

Mother Nature put an end to the argument and told the Seasonals of her worries about all the strange weather that had been going on.

"We must find out what is causing this imbalance, as it will effect all the world. Keep a close eye out for anything strange," she instructed her Seasonals.

As all the other spirits had explained what had happened with their Seasons, a smug August and Jasper had been delighted to hear Lillian get called out on her late start to Spring.

"Your job is ensure the balance of the Seasons," Mother Nature said in a gentle, yet scolding tone. "It is imperative that you start Spring when it must. Your duty is to spread the warmth with your Season, to encourage the end of Winter and the start of new beginnings."

Lillian had nodded at Mother Nature, looking down at her feet with a blush of shame on her face. Her very first meeting and here she was already getting in trouble.

"I must admit, I'm also concerned about the rumors of Seasonal Spirits disappearing. We have never found out what happened to the former Spirit of Spring and I notice that not one other Spring Spirit or Sprite has turned up for this Meeting. Please be very careful, my children," Mother Nature said in her gentle tone while the other spirits prepared to leave as the Meeting drew to a close.

Jack was wondering how in the world they were actually going to get back home when Mother Nature's voice rang out.

"Lillian. Jack Frost. I want you to stay behind," Mother Nature commanded, her voice which once had been gentle, was now as cold as Jack's powers.

Jack and Lillian looked at one another as the other spirits all left the throne room, and then Jack and Lillian looked at Mother Nature.

What trouble were they in now?

* * *

Back at the Pole, Jack and Lillian hadn't realized what a disturbance their sudden departure had caused, as Pitch had gone to Jack's room to check on them, only to see two letters left on Jack's bed.

Pitch's eyes widened as he realized that they were both gone.

 _Again._

* * *

Author's Note: Whew, that was long! That was the longest chapter yet. Hopefully this didn't seem rushed as I really just wanted to skip to the Seasonal Meeting. I realized I did rush the meeting, so I might expand more on that in the next chapter. If you're wondering about the Nightmares, you've probably noticed that a few have been hanging around the lair anyway, and with all the fear around, BOOM. Thankfully Bunny was there to save the day. I couldn't help sneaking in a little bonding time there.

You'll have to let me know what you thought of the chapter. Was Pitch overreacting? What do you think Mother nature wants to talk about? Stay tuned until next time! I plan to update at least by the end of the week, maybe sooner.


	42. Chapter 40: Nature's Wrath

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. Sorry, I had to. But it's coming up! This chapter starts off with a more in-depth look at the meeting and we finally get to see something from August and Jasper's point of views. Plus we also get to learn a little more about August's past.

Now.. reviews!

Crossover Junkie, I did forget about the self defense lessons.. I'm sure Jack and Lillian will be wishing they had them, but after things settle down Pitch will be forcing them to have them. Or else! And yes, poor Pitch is definitely at his breaking point.

A guest suggested that Pitch rush into Mother Nature's palace, which I'm sure will happen at some point.. But I'm not going to make things easy on him. I'm thinking that if you're not a Seasonal, you probably don't know exactly where it's located..

The Skeleton Girl guessed that Mother Nature wants to discuss Pitch. Whatever gave you that idea? :P

Cupcake was teasing Jack about accidentally teleporting himself along to the Meeting. Yes, Jack. That was very silly of you.

Brenne is getting tortured by the SUSPENSE, but I'm sad to say this chapter doesn't help alleviate it..

And now.. on with the story!

Chapter Fourty: Nature's Wrath

A few hours before Jack and Lillian had arrived at the Seasonal Meeting, the rest of the minor Summer and Fall spirits and sprites had finished gathering. The Summer seasonals looked brilliant in their golden or red outfits, while the Fall seasonals wore a variety of colors, such as reddish orange, yellow, brown or even a darker green. The minor seasonals were following the lead of the main ones by mingling together and talking.

Jasper and August, who had arrived not long after the final minor seasonals, were standing in a room near the throne room, waiting for Mother Nature to call them in. They were usually the first of the Seasonals to arrive.

August smirked at Jasper.

"I told you Frost would be late again," he said smugly to the Fall Seasonal.

Jasper looked annoyed at the mere mention of Jack's name.

"Did you know he _froze_ all my leaves one year before I had finished painting them?" he complained.

August frowned, looking annoyed too.

"Not to mention that blizzard he caused in Summer, shortly after becoming the Winter Spirit. The humans thought it was the end of the world!"

Jack Frost had clearly gotten on a lot of the spirits' bad sides. Going hundreds of years of being ignored by the many spirits out there, Jack had taken to playing pranks and generally being as annoying as possible, just so he could get any attention at all.

Some of the so-called "pranks" he had pulled weren't intentional though, since he had no one to show him how to use his powers, he had to figure things out for himself. That was one reason he was so eager to show Lillian how to control hers. He didn't want her accidentally causing trouble as he had done, hundreds of years ago.

Jasper nodded, remembering the incident from so long ago.

"He must be pretty powerful though, to counteract the temperatures like that. Remember the previous Spirit of Winter couldn't do such a thing."

August looked sour at the mention of the previous Spirit of Winter.

"Mistral?* He was powerful in his own right, and while he couldn't create blizzards when Summer was in full reign, he certainly didn't know when Winter was to end. Mother Nature had to speak to him time and time again.."

Jasper nodded, remembering the former Winter Spirit.

"He always started too early too. Sometimes it felt like I'd barely finished painting my leaves when the first snowfall would hit. At least Frost doesn't start too early. Besides, Mother Nature hardly ever scolds _Jack._ "

August sighed.

"Nor that baby Spring Spirit. You think she'd at least learn not to spread _spring_ flowers out of season!"

Jasper rolled his eyes.

"You should have seen the two of them last Fall in Burgess. Spring flowers _everywhere_. They even have Salem wrapped around their finger!"

August, in full gossip mode now nodded in agreement, not realizing that Lucian was eavesdropping nearby. Nor did he notice the smirk Lucian had and the way his eyes lit up at the juicy tidbits he was learning about the Winter and Spring spirits.

"I still wonder what happened to Leif. I didn't realize that he'd disappeared until that baby Spirit started running around."

Jasper shrugged, looking uneasy.

"A lot of spirits seem to be vanishing lately. Nearly half of my Fall spirits are gone and I see a good many of yours have gone missing too."

August nodded with a sigh.

"It means more work for us. Have you noticed not one of Leif's spirits have shown themselves? I wonder if they've disappeared too, or if they refuse to obey a little girl."

The two continued gossiping until Jack and Lillian finally arrived.

Jasper snorted when he saw that Jack was wearing light blue pajamas that had snowmen and snowflakes all over them.

They saw that Lillian was looking around excitedly but nervously. They had no time for chatting with the late arrivals however, since Mother Nature chose that moment to begin her Meeting.

When all of them had gathered into the throne room, Mother Nature greeted her Seasonals. Only the main Seasonals and Mother Nature were gathered in the throne room now.

"August, how has Summer been?" Mother Nature asked the eldest Seasonal Spirit first.

Jack blinked in surprise. Usually Mother Nature went in order of the seasons. Was she slighting Lillian, or waiting since Lillian would need more instructions?

August flashed Mother Nature a grin that would have Tooth swooning. His teeth were absolutely perfect, just as his tan was. He brushed his golden curls back and flexed his muscles a bit, looking every inch like a greek sun god.

Jasper looked amused as he knew that the outfit August originally wore was nothing like that. It wasn't until August had learned a little about mythology, that he had started dressing like some ancient god. Before that, August wore typical clothing: a button up shirt and pants, with a cloak and boots. It was somewhat similar to Jack's settler clothing, but much older.

"Fine, fine." August said dismissively. "Lucian has been particularly helpful in spreading Summer when I'm busy."

Mother Nature looked amused as she knew very well that August being 'busy' meant perfecting his tan or working on his surfing technique. Ever since surfing had started becoming popular, August was never very far from the ocean or waves.

It wasn't an issue, since the Seasonals with spirits and sprites were able to take a less hands-on approach and only had to supervise, while their minions did all the hard work.

Mother Nature could remember when she had chosen the young man to be her Summer Seasonal. He had blonde hair much as he did now, and was tan not from laying about in the sun, but from hard work. He loved summer and was often outside, working in the fields.

August would rather die than admit that he'd been a farmer in his previous life, and had taken to the life of a Seasonal, using every bit of power at his disposal and others' preconceptions about what a Summer Spirit should be, to get as far away from his previous life as possible.

Mother Nature adored August, but sometimes she was filled with sadness at how different he was now, compared to how he had been when he first became a Summer Spirit. August had been very hardworking, taking on much of the duties of Summer himself. Now.. not so much.

Shaking these thoughts from her mind, Mother Nature turned to Jasper.

"Jasper, what about you? How is Fall?"

Jack glanced at Lillian, and figured that Mother Nature was going to have her go last.

Jasper's eyes lit up since he was glad to have his turn before that baby Spring Spirit could jabber away, hogging the time with Mother Nature.

Jasper was nowhere near as conceited as August, and he was generally a very friendly spirit, but was definitely a workaholic. Jack had naturally gotten on Jasper's bad side, by freezing his precious leaves before he had a chance to paint them, therefore causing his poor sprites so much more work.

Unlike August, Jasper was a hard worker and liked to do things himself. He usually left things like the temperature of the season to his spirits and sprites and took on the painting of the leaves himself.

Since this last Fall had gone exceptionally well, Jasper had no problem describing in minute detail how the painting of his leaves had gone. He had even painted a few leaves early, as he usually did, to try and get the humans' attention to the poor, sick trees.

It was as he was describing the particular way he had colored the leaves of a burning bush, trying to make it seem as if it was actually on fire, that Lillian's patience had snapped.

"August started Summer early in Burgess!" she said in what Jasper thought was an unnecessarily accusing tone of voice. He was also annoyed that he hadn't yet finished his report on Fall.

August looked outraged at the accusation. It was _extremely_ rude to make unfounded accusations, and an accusation against August was also an accusation against his Summer Sprites, whom he knew would _never_ spread Summer early, no matter how much they loved their job.

"Excuse me," he snapped at Lillian, using his most superior tone of voice, "But I've been in California and my Summer Sprites have been busy elsewhere."

"But it's over eighty degrees there!" Lillian exclaimed as Jasper and August exchanged exasperated looks. _Really?_

Sensing an impending argument, Mother Nature hastily interrupted.

"This imbalance is troublesome," she said not even entertaining the thought that August was causing trouble, "I have noticed that many Seasons are not acting as they should. The temperature should naturally flow with the corresponding Season, with minimal maintenance from your Sprites needed."

Everyone nodded with Mother Nature, except for Lillian who only looked confused at the mention of Sprites. What Sprites?

"We must find out what is causing this imbalance, as it will effect all the world. Keep an eye out for anything strange," Mother Nature instructed her Seasonals.

August sent Jasper a smug smile as Mother Nature turned to the brat. This ought to be _good_.

"Child of Spring," Mother Nature addressed Lillian. "I've noticed that every year, Spring is later and later, especially in Burgess."

Ohh, starting late! That was a surefire way of getting on Mother Nature's bad side. Mother Nature would let a few years slide, as she knew that the Spirit was getting used to its power, but after that...

August sent a smug look Lillian's way, not even bothering to hide his smirk of amusement. _Serves the little brat right,_ he thought to himself. _That's what she gets for accusing me! Better pay attention to your own season first. Heh heh._

"Your job is to ensure the balance of the Seasons," Mother Nature gently scolded. "It is imperative that you start Spring when it must. Your duty is to spread the warmth with your Season, to encourage the end of Winter and the start of new beginnings."

Jack looked a little apprehensive, but he couldn't help the affectionate shake of his head. Only Mother Nature could simultaneously scold a spirit and give them instructions on how to run their season.

Jasper noticed the look of shame on Lillian's face and almost felt sorry for her. It was only her first meeting and already she was being called to task. On the other hand, she had to realize that you couldn't throw around accusations carelessly. It was very strange however, if it was true that it was already so warm in Burgess.

"I must admit, I'm also concerned about the rumors of Seasonal Spirits disappearing. We have never found out what happened to the former Spirit of Spring and I notice that not one other Spring Spirit or Sprite has turned up for this Meeting. Please be very careful, my children." Mother Nature said as the meeting drew to a close.

While Mother Nature had been preoccupied with thoughts of her Seasonals, out of season weather and the strange disappearances of the spirits, she failed to realize that she didn't let Jack have his turn.

Jack was sort of used to such treatment by now, but he still felt hurt by Mother's slight. He knew she was busy, but she never _ignored_ him before. He had been ignored by pretty much all the spirits at one point or another, but to be ignored by _Mother Nature.._

Hearing the dismissive tone in her voice, Jasper and August turned to leave, after the latter sent Lillian a glare.

Jasper noticed the glare and shook his head. Yet another enemy made..

As the two spirits left the throne room, they could hear Mother Nature's tone of voice and shivered. They had never heard her speak so coldly before and hoped to never hear her do so again.

"Lillian. Jack Frost. I want you to stay behind," Mother Nature told the two youngest of the Seasonal Spirits.

August and Jasper rushed into the waiting room to gather their respective spirits and sprites and hurry off to their own homes, and away from the suddenly cold Mother Nature.

If they knew what was going to happen, perhaps they (or at least Jasper) would have stayed to help. But neither of them gave another thought to Jack or Lillian as the thoughts of their own seasons entered their mind.

Jasper couldn't help but mourn the loss of his friend, Leif. He had secretly been hoping that Leif might turn up at some point, even as a minor Spring Spirit. But with that baby Spring Spirit showing up to the meeting and no spring spirits or sprites turning up, he knew now that his friend was gone forever.

Jasper knew that Mother Nature hadn't chosen the new Spring Spirit, and he knew she never would have chosen one that young. What had the Man in the Moon been thinking? With a sigh, he headed off to his own home, to retire and practice his painting until it was time for Fall.

* * *

Mother Nature looked coldly at both Jack and Lillian, who looked very nervous. What had they done _now?_

Before they could speak, Mother Nature addressed them.

"What is your relationship with Pitch Black?" she demanded.

Lillian's eyes widened at the question and she shot Jack a look. Pitch had always told them to _never_ tell any other spirits about how they were living with him, but he never told them what to say if Mother Nature herself asked.

Jack, fully aware of this, fidgeted.

"Uh.. Why do you ask?" he asked, wincing a little at the dark look that passed on Mother Nature's face.

"Answer me," she said. "I've heard numerous rumors of your connections to him!"

Still feeling the effects of Mother Nature's scolding, Lillian decided that being honest couldn't hurt.

She would soon come to realize how very wrong she was.

"Pitch takes care of us," she said, giving Mother Nature the same explanation that she had given the Guardians, "he looks out for us. He used to be bad, but he's not bad anymore. The Man in the Moon fixed him!"

"He.. takes care of you." Mother Nature said, her voice going flat. "Like his children."

It wasn't a question, but Lillian nodded anyway.

"Yeah! He's the greatest dad," Lillian said with a smile at the thought. "Even if he does nag us a lot."

Jack glanced nervously at Lillian. Even though it was Mother Nature, he wasn't sure that Lillian should be revealing so much. Lillian just didn't realize how touchy spirits were about Pitch Black.

A rumble of thunder in the distance, followed by the crackle of lightning matched Mother Nature's rapidly deteriorating mood. She had done her duty to her Seasonals, and now it was time to set things straight.

"You are not Pitch's children!" she thundered suddenly.

Lillian looked taken aback at the outburst.

"Yes we are!" Lillian argued. "Pitch loves us! We might not be his _real_ kids, but we're his adopted ones!"

The storm raged around Mother Nature's palace as the wind picked up. Jack could hear the Wind screaming at him to look out, but there was nothing he could do.

"I AM PITCH'S _**ONLY**_ CHILD!" Mother Nature bellowed at a shocked Lillian and Jack. "I am his daughter!"

"We.. we thought you were dead!" Lillian exclaimed. Jack could instantly tell this was the wrong thing to say, as he saw Mother Nature's hands ball into fists.

She was the most powerful Seasonal Spirit of them all, the one that governed all the Seasonals. To have her ire against them.. it was bad.

 _Very_ bad.

"So he thinks he can replace me?!" Mother Nature's voice boomed out, followed by an explosion of thunder. "If he cares for you so much, then we'll see if he searches for you, as he never did for me!"

Before Jack or Lillian could protest, Mother Nature swooped down on them. In a swirl of leaves and petals, they were gone.

* * *

Pitch stared at the two letters on Jack's bed. His mind went blank at the sight of them, even though he knew perfectly well what they were and what day it was.

He had told them they would _not_ be going. His mind started racing as his thoughts went into overdrive. Jack was still recovering from his cold! Lillian was only a child!

Mother - _Emily Jane_ could be unpredictable! If she ever learned of Jack's and Lillian's connections with himself, who knew what could happen!

Then he shook his head, a smile of disbelief appearing.

No.. no. He was being silly.

Of _course_ they weren't gone.

Jack had probably gotten bored and they went home for some reason or another.

With that thought in mind, Pitch walked into the nearest shadow and went back to his lair.

As he exited the shadow in the globe room and came face to face with a Nightmare, he had to admit that perhaps he was wrong.

* * *

*Mistral is the name of a cold wind in South France.

Author's Note: A quick note on Mistral. I know in most ROTG fanfictions I've read, there's either been Jokul Frosti (a more evilish Jack Frost before he becomes fun-loving Jack Frost) or Old Man Winter as the previous Spirit of Winter, but I wanted something different, so I named him Mistral. I'm also mostly chosing males to be Seasonal Spirits, just to annoy Lillian. Plus I figure female Spirits are more rare anyway.

I also figure that just because Mistral and Leif are no longer in the picture, doesn't mean that they won't stay out of the story entirely. I'm planning on eventually revealing what happened to poor Leif at some point in the future, so there is a reason his disappearance keeps popping up in the story.

As for Mother Nature's exploding.. Weeell.. Pitch IS a touchy subject for her and I'm sure that despite Pitch telling her before that he never stopped looking for her, that she wouldn't believe him. So her temper got the better of her and caused her to even go against her own Seasonals. She's not really a bad guy, just.. angry.

Do you guys think Pitch will come to Jack and Lillian's rescue? Do you think Pitch will be able to take on the Nightmares in the lair by himself? And do you think the Guardians will get involved?

I am sooo updating on Friday, since I can't let this cliffhanger lie.. Muwhaha.

I'm also curious if August and Jasper should get more involved in this. And do you think Pitch would go to the Guardians for help, or try and solve things himself?

As always, if you have any plot suggestions, feel free to let me know! And yes, Mother Nature didn't let Jack tell his report, but she was distracted. He'll probably get to tell her his report (maybe?) after everything settles down. Otherwise those next Seasonal Meetings are going to be awkwaaard.

 **Edit:** Fixed a few typos.


	43. Chapter 41: Jasper's Plight

Author's Note: I had worked out how I wanted to start the chapter in advance, but when it came to writing it, I just felt blaaah and not up to thinking about plot much. So I was going to do an Interlude involving Jasper, but then it kinda roundabout went into a chapter anyway, since Pitch turned up. Anyway, I realized that Jasper hasn't been getting too much in the way of background info, so I decided to show his return home and where he lived. I think if he got to know Jack better, that he and Jack would actually be good friends. Since Jasper loves painting, I could see him and Bunny getting along well too, at some point.

Now, for reviews!

Crossover Junkie thought it would be cool if Jasper could help out a little, which led me to decide to include him in the story more, which led me to wanting to do an Interlude with him, which ultimately led to the very beginning of this chapter! SO. Thanks for the idea! I have to admit, at first I was going to have Jasper be just another spirit who hated Jack Frost with a passion and also didn't like Lillian either, but he's grown on me. August.. not so much, but he's actually designed to be pretty unlikeable and self-centered, so.. yeah. But we'll probably see more of Mr. Sun God later, since he's a Seasonal too, and I want them more involved.

I think I'm killing poor Brenne there with all this suspense, but I can't help it! Mother Nature will turn up in the next chapter, as we discover what's going on with Jack and Lillian. I'm afraid that Jasper stole the show in this one. :P

Crossover Junkie also suggested some comedy relief with Bunny, and the Guardians will be showing back up. It's just that right now they're so oblivious to what's going on and Pitch isn't helping matters by running off by himself.

The Skeleton Girl is wondering if Leif's disappearance will have a major effect on plot and I'm guessing.. _yes. Yes it will._ And it will be glorious!

Spiritfire was wondering if Pitch should ask Jasper and August for help.. Well, you know. Pitch isn't one to ask for help so much, so.. You'll see what happens in this chapter!

I also want to say I'm sorry if you were looking forward to Mother Nature in this chapter, but I promise you guys will find out soon what's going on with that. Really.

Chapter Fourty-One: Jasper's Plight

Jasper hadn't given much thought to Lillian and Jack's meeting with Mother Nature. He had returned to his own home, in a swirl of Fall leaves. His place was doused in a lot of Fall magic, to keep the temperature and season the same, surrounding his home.

He lived in the middle of a small forest that was far from any civilization. His home was actually a nice tree house, built from the wood of fallen trees. It was the sort of house that elves would be proud to live in, since it had more than one building, and they were connected through walkways. Jasper had long since perfected his method of traveling, so it was with little fanfare that he appeared in a swirl of leaves on a walkway in his house.

The Fall wind ruffed his hair affectionately, and he grinned at it. He couldn't use his connection with this wind to fly like Jack Frost could, but like Jack, he had the ability to understand what it was saying to him. All Seasonals had the ability, but few could actually master it. It was Jasper's patient and kind nature that helped him, so very long ago.

"Have you seen any trouble? Mother thinks that something is causing trouble for us Seasonals." he said to the wind.

A passing sprite chittered in alarm. She was actually pretty cute and looked like a fairy of sorts, since she had wings on her back. They were more like butterfly wings, but they looked like leaves. Her outfit contained a lot of brown and reddish orange, and she blended in almost perfectly with the colorful leaves on the tree that Japser's home was in.

Jasper noticed the poor sprite, whose eyes had gone wide and she stared at him as if something was going to eat her up. He chuckled and lifted his palm under her. She was fairy-sized, and could fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.

"Don't worry, we'll be alright. There's still a number of you left and I need you to help me spread Fall when it's our turn. You'll be safe as long as you stay in our forest, alright?" Jasper told her.

The sprite nodded, apparently calming at Jasper's words. She said something unintelligible, but it seemed that Jasper could understand her.

"There's a new Spring Spirit," Jasper said to the sprite after a pause. "Mother doesn't know what happened to Leif," he continued with a sad sigh. "August isn't a bad friend, you know, he just.. likes to talk about himself a lot. I miss Leif.. he was the only one who understood why I liked painting leaves so much. He spent just as much time crafting and cultivating his spring flowers. It was more than just spreading flowers to him.. It was spreading the joy of the season. Spring gave people hope."

The sprite nodded solemnly at Jasper's words. Jasper's sprites tended to mirror his thoughts on things, as they were easily influenced by their leader, and they were all very fond of Leif.

Jasper carried the sprite off to his art room, where he practiced his painting. He set her down on his shoulder, so she could see what he was painting. He never knew why, but this particular sprite loved watching him paint. He often indulged her by letting her sit on his shoulder.

The sprites and minor Fall spirits were always good listeners, but it wasn't quite the same as having a friend outside of your seasonal helpers. Everyone always assumed the Seasonals were either friends or indifferent to one another. For instance, no one liked Jack Frost so it was assumed the other Seasonals all hated him too. Spring brought an end to Winter, so it was assumed that the Spring Spirit and Winter Spirit would never get along.

It was assumed that since Summer and Spring were somewhat similar, that those Seasonals would be best friends.

Jasper brushed his brown hair out of his eyes as he stood in front of an easel. It had a blank canvas on it, and he had several paints nearby, all of them natural or fall colors.

"It isn't fair, you know," he said softly to the sprite. "The other spirits always assume they know us Seasonals, or think we're too good to associate with them."

Even though Jasper was a workaholic and seemed like a loner, the truth of the matter was that he had a problem similar to Jack Frost: most of the other spirits ignored him. Leif had been his one true friend, and now with Leif lost, Jasper felt rather lonely.

He had tried to throw himself into his work more than usual, but it was made difficult by Lillian running around, causing him problems. Jasper thought of the little Spring Spirit as he finally picked up his paints and began to paint. Like so many of his paintings, this one featured his forest.

As his thoughts were drifting to his fellow Seasonals, he decided to change up his usual painting. As he painted, he wondered if Mother was being hard on her. Mother Nature wasn't always predictable, and while she loved her Seasonals she could also be demanding and hard on them. While it was Lillian's first Seasonal Meeting, she wasn't exactly brand new as a spirit, since she was over fourty years old.

A frown marred his face as he thought about the strange weather in Burgess again. If August wasn't the cause, then _why_ was it so hot there? The Spring Spirit herself admitted that she wasn't the cause, and as she was irritated by the temperature, he knew that she had probably tried to use her powers to lower it.

Mother had told them to be cautious, as whatever was stealing away the sprites and spirits was obviously dangerous to them, if Leif's disappearance was any indication. His thoughts whirling, Jasper finally looked at what he was painting.

He had been intending to do a painting that featured all the Seasonals and their seasons, but with his thoughts in a whirl, he hadn't been paying attention to what his paint brush was doing.

With a pang, he realized he had painted Leif looking over his forest. Jasper looked down, his mop of brown hair covering his eyes. He didn't realize it, but he looked more like Jack than anything, since Jack had the tendency to do the same thing when he was upset.

The sprite on Jasper's shoulder patted his head in a comforting manner.

"I can't sit here and hide while the Seasons are a mess and everything is so wrong," Jasper said softly to his sprite. "Do you think Mother would be angry if I had a look around?"

The sprite nodded vigorously, since if Jasper disappeared too, she knew that Mother Nature would be upset.

Not able to see the sprite, Jasper heard her silence. He assumed that she was probably afraid to go along, so he gently picked her up and placed her down on a small table near the easel, where he kept his paints.

"Stay here and don't let the others play in here, alright? I have to at least _try_ to figure out what's going on." He gave her a half-hearted smile. "It's what Leif would've done."

Before the sprite could say anything, Jasper disappeared in a whirl of leaves. The Fall wind blew in gently from the open window, whispering worriedly to the sprite.

The sprite cocked her head cutely at it, but it was obvious that she couldn't understand what it was saying. With a shrug, the sprite stood up and straightened her back. She had a mission: Protect Jasper's paints at all costs.

With a determined look on her face, she marched back and forth on the table, keeping an eye out for her fellow sprites, who loved to cause mischief.

* * *

Jasper appeared in Burgess, looking a little tired. His magical forest was a long ways away from Burgess. He looked around to see that he was in another forest, near a pretty lake.

He smiled at the scene and looked around, determined to paint this later on. His smile slipped however, when he could feel how hot and humid the air was. The wind ruffled his hair, but Jasper couldn't understand what this one was saying. This was either the Spring or Summer wind.

He scanned the lake again, and frowned. He could also _swear_ even though it was so humid out, that he could feel a little Winter magic in the air. He walked over to the water and knelt down by it, dipping his fingers below the surface.

He pulled his hand out with a gasp. The water should've been heated by the all the heat, but it was still pretty cold. Had Frost been here? He looked around, but couldn't see the Winter spirit anywhere. He should've been done with the meeting with Mother Nature. Or perhaps he had been here just before the meeting?

He frowned at the lake as he stood. This place was practically a sauna. In fact, Jasper was feeling rather warm as he stood there and he knew that even he couldn't hang around Burgess for too long, or else he'd succumb to the heat.

He was about to turn and head towards the town, when he heard a roar of what sounded like frustration. He looked apprehensively over at it. Was that what was causing the disappearances?

Jasper realized suddenly how unprepared he was, and how defenseless he also was. Even though he was an old spirit who looked to be in his mid-twenties, it didn't mean he knew how to fight. Sure, he was friends with his Wind and could control the Fall temperatures, but that didn't really translate into any fighting skills.

He tucked his hands into the pocket of his brown hoodie and looked in the direction that the roar had come from. With a soft sigh, he started to walk towards it. He didn't come all this way for nothing.

* * *

Pitch stared at the Nightmare. He clearly remembered locking them all up with the Dream Pirates and now here one was _in his home_.

With a growl, he formed his black scythe and sliced through the Nightmare viciously. He didn't have time for this!

More Nightmares appeared, attracted by Pitch's overwhelming fear that Lillian and Jack were actually lost or in danger. A small part of him knew that they were probably with his Emily Jane, but he didn't know where her palace was. Not a lot was known about Mother Nature's whereabouts, as that information was kept pretty secret amongst the Seasonals.

Pitch slashed methodically through the Nightmares, causing them to burst into black sand, which scattered to the floor.

As yet another Nightmare showed up, Pitch's patience snapped.

"ENOUGH!" he roared in frustration.

He raced toward the Nightmares and viciously tore through them with his black scythe. He ran to Lillian's room first, finding it empty. Next he went to Jack's room, only to find that empty too.

He should've known that they wouldn't be there. He looked at the remains of more Nightmares near Lillian's room and realized that he hadn't been the one to dispose of these ones.

His eyes flashed as he realized that someone had been in his home. Darting toward the nearest shadow, he appeared outside the entrance to his lair.

The snap of a twig nearby alerted Pitch to another presence and he reacted purely on instinct as he swung his scythe around. When he spotted a mop of hair and a boy in a hoodie, he suddenly halted the attack.

"J-Jack?" Pitch gasped in shock, then paused. His eyes darkened as he realized this wasn't his Jack, but someone who looked similar, with brown hair.

Jasper's eyes had gone impossibly wide as the scythe was mere _millimeters_ from decapitating him.

"N-no..!" he squeaked, his voice several octaves higher than it normally was. "I'm.. I'm J-Japser..!"

Pitch withdrew his scythe a few inches and studied the spirit. Pitch could sense the power the boy had, and realized that while this Jasper looked like his Jack, Jasper was obviously a young man, whereas Jack was still a child.

Pitch narrowed his golden eyes.

"What are you doing here? You're that blasted Fall Spirit, aren't you?"

Jasper nodded, then stopped mid-nod as he almost took his own head off.

"M-Mother Nature said that there was an imbalance of the Seasons and the Sp-Spring Spirit was complaining about the warm temperatures here, so I came to investigate," he explained to Pitch.

Pitch's eyes widened a bit and then he glared at Jasper.

"Where is she?!" he demanded, not caring that he wasn't making any sense and not caring that he was threatening one of Jack and Lillian's fellow Seasonal Spirits.

"Please don't kill me!" Jasper cried out suddenly, unable to take the deadly look in Pitch's eyes and the threats with the scythe. "I haven't done anything!"

" _Where. Is. The. Child. Of. Spring._ " Pitch snarled, his voice dangerous. This Pitch made the old Pitch Black look like child's play. This Pitch was out to destroy anyone who stood in his way of getting to Jack and Lillian. This Pitch was about a thread away from completely snapping, and anyone caught in his breakdown would certainly pay.

Confusion entered Jasper's eyes, replacing some of the sheer terror. Why would Pitch Black care about the new Spring Spirit?

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, is it bad if I want this Pitch vs. angry Mother Nature? I feel bad for poor Jasper. He's not a fighter at all, and now he's suddenly in Pitch's warpath. I was going to have Pitch seek out some sprites and threaten them to get to either August or Jasper, but Jasper had to take matters into his own hands. I'm also guessing that news of Pitch's recovery hasn't really gotten out yet, so most of the spirit population probably thinks that Pitch is still very evil.

The next chapter will definitely feature what happened to Jack and Lillian, Mother Nature and more irate Pitch. Don't worry though, Pitch wouldn't actually kill Jasper. And instead of _asking_ for help, Pitch is going to threaten Jasper's life if he doesn't help Pitch out. I figure Pitch was more likely to do that than actually ask for help. In fact, I'm thinking the Guardians are going to have to start figuring things out for themselves if they don't want to be left behind in this little plot. So expect a snippet with them too!

If you guys have any more ideas or things you want to see in the story, feel free to let me know. Oh, and to the Guest who requested their Spring Sprite OC to be in the story: I'm gearing up towards that! You actually inspired all the sprites that have been turning up lately. Right now I'm thinking the sprites are just a bit on the nameless side and rather anonymous, but each with their own personality. (Maybe something kinda like the mini Tooth fairies?) But since the Spring Sprites/Spirits are currently MIA, we'll still have awhile before they turn up.

OH and I have to tell you, I'm SUPER EXCITED since I used a Nook Gift Cert to buy the first two Guardians books! All the books and the kids' storybooks are actually available on my Nook, so I'm gonna get them. I'm not sure how this will effect the story, but I'm thinking more tidbits (and characters, perhaps?) will start to turn up in the fic as I read the books. I can't wait!

 **Edit:** Fixed a typo. I know I have more in the story, and I'll eventually go back and edit them out, but.. but.. _40 chapters._ I should've tackled this about 35 chapters agoo.. Ugh.


	44. Interlude 3: Summer's Ire & Trapped

Author's Note: I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long for an update. Naturally I had to get sick myself, bleh! And now I'm busy this weekend, but I had to give you guys _something_ , so here's another interlude for you. It features August, and I was meaning to show you August's Summer Paradise, but he just wanted to go surfing, so..

Anyway! Reviews!

Crossover Junkie thought an angry Pitch should confront an angry Mother Nature, with poor Jasper caught in the middle wondering what the heck is going on. Sooo tempted! So we'll see. :P She also thought that Pitch should force Jack and Lillian to do self defense lessons and I agree. They definitely need them.

PudinFeliz really likes the story so far and is hoping that we can see more of the Seasonals later on. I like them too, so of course! If it works out maybe they can be more friendly with certain other spirits. In any case, they might all have to work together to tackle certain problems..

aviator1198 thinks Lillian should find out that Jack initially caused the blizzard that killed her. Even though it IS true that Jack technically killed her, that's.. I dunno. It feels harsh. It would make for some good angst later, so we'll see. I'm not entirely sure how to bring that up though. It's not like everyone sits around talking about '68. Maybe they could talk about when they were made spirits and it just comes out? Hrm.. Well. It'll be saved for later at any rate. There's too much going on at the moment.

Anariel Phoenix Blade wanted me to update and was curious if Pitch would force Mother Nature to accept him as her father and Jack and Lillian as her new siblings? I'm not sure if they'll get to that warm, fuzzy stage. I won't tell you what I think will happen, as chapters tend to run away from me sometimes. So we'll have to wait and see!

I also took pity on you guys for waiting so long, so I gave you a little Jack and Lillian too! Enjoy!

Interlude 3: Summer's Ire & Trapped

While certain Fall spirits were being harassed by Pitch Black, August Bay had happily decided to return his most favorite place: California. Sure, it wasn't _quite_ summer yet, but it was close! And that was good enough for him.

He didn't even spare any thoughts to what his friend Jasper might be up to, or why Mother Nature had detained the annoying Winter Spirit and the pesky baby Spring Spirit. As far as he was concerned, all he had to worry about was the waves he was going to catch.

In a flash of fire that would have done a phoenix proud, August appeared on a beach in sunny California, only to pause as he and his fellow sprites looked around. Normally around this time of year the beaches were pretty sparse, as even if it was California, the weather wasn't quite hot enough for swimming. This mattered little to August, as he just wanted to catch some waves. There were usually a couple surfers out and about, wearing their wetsuits, but he usually paid them little mind.

But as August stared at the extremely crowded beach, he had to admit - Mother Nature was right.. There was definitely _something_ going on with the seasons. Not only was the beach as crowded as if it was already the height of Summer, the weather was _hot._ It also wasn't his doing, as he never went out of season. That was one thing most of the spirits respected.. with the exception of Jack Frost.

August frowned as he stared at the crowd. California usually had a dry heat, but he could practically see the moisture in the air. It was very muggy out as well. He also noted with disgust that there were too many people and their toys out in the water for him to really do anything.. Great. Just great.

"Look around and see if you can spot anything," he snapped at Lucian, who was looking around with his eyes a little wide. "If you do, just come back to me and report. Now go!"

The Summer spirits and sprites all scattered at the harsh command. Usually August was more easy going, but this hot weather had put him on edge. He didn't take kindly to anyone making him look bad and with all this heat coming in out of season, everyone would point their finger at him.

As he stood there watching the crowd a moment more, he spotted something flitting about in the air, moving around the beach goers.

He caught sight of the almost orangish blond hair and blinked. He knew that hair! Wasn't that Marin, one of his spirits that had gone missing? What was she doing?!

He started to call out to her, but there was a tell-tale flash, and she was gone.

When his other sprites returned to report that they had seen several of the so-called "missing" other Summer Sprites, August let out a growl of frustration.

What the hell was going on?!

* * *

Farther away from California, in another part of the world, there was a flurry of petals and leaves as a trio of Spirits suddenly appeared in a damp cave.

Lillian shivered as she, Jack and Mother Nature appeared in the cave. There was a loud roaring and she could see a wall of water blocking the cave entrance. Light was coming in through the entrance, so it must be day time wherever they were.

Mother Nature looked almost smugly at Jack and Lillian.

"Now let's see if he comes here for you! If he searches for you as he never did for me. Even if he did want to find you, I doubt that he would be able to."

Lillian glanced at her bracelet and almost sighed in relief. As soon as Mother Nature was gone, she could just use her powers to get her and Jack out of -

Almost as if sensing Lillian's thoughts, Mother Nature's hand flashed out and before Lillian could let out a "Hey!" of protest, her bracelet was snatched away.

Mother Nature quickly tucked the bracelet into a pocket.

"You may have it back if you are rescued," she smiled a little coldly at Lillian.

Mother Nature regarded Jack.

"I'll see to the start of winter for you," she finally said. "You may resume your duties once things have.. settled. But I want it made clear - **_I_** am Pitch's child. Not either of you!"

Before Jack or Lillian could say anything, Mother Nature vanished in a swirl of petals and leaves. Lillian shivered as she looked around. The cave was cool and damp, which wasn't exactly ideal for Spring Spirits.

She looked over at Jack, who was starting to look a little flushed. It wasn't the proper temperature for Winter Spirits either and Jack was still recovering from his cold.

She walked over to Jack and huggled onto him, only to draw away almost immediately due to his cold nature.

"What are we going to do?" she asked Jack loudly, to be heard over the roaring sound, which she assumed came from the wall of water blocking the mouth of the cave.

"Can you make your Flower of Doom appear?" Jack shouted back to her.

Lillian concentrated hard, but no flowers appeared except for the ones that always seemed to magically appear at her feet. None of them grew to epic proportions though and she shook her head sadly.

"No, I need my bracelet for it!" she answered sadly. "Even if I could, I don't think I could control where we'd end up!"

Jack sighed and sat down where he'd been standing. Lillian sat down next to him, crossing her arms to try and keep warm.

"Do you think Pitch will find us?" Lillian asked, after a long pause.

Jack, who normally was the one who tried to keep happy for everyone's sake, just shrugged. He let out a loud "ACHOO!" before he answered, looking flushed.

"..I don't know," he said. "How can he?"

* * *

Author's Note: Yeah, I know. I give you guys a little something and then end it on yet another cliffhanger. I would hate me too, if I were you. Sorry! But to make up for it, I do plan on updating by either Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. I really was planning on showing you more of August, but somehow he wrangled away from me and went and found a little more plot in California. We will eventually see where he lives. I also have to figure out how they got their homes in the first place, since Lillian doesn't have one. Did they make them themeselves, or were they given to them by Mother Nature? Hm! If it's the first one, then why didn't Jack make himself one? Why did he sleep in a tree for 300 years? We'll find out.. eventually.

As always, if you have any more plot ideas or suggestions, I'm listening! If you want something awesome to happen in the next chapter, you should let me know soon. I will tell you that it'll be.. intense. And it'll have the Guardians in it for sure, since they're feeling a little neglected. I'm curious who's going to figure out that all three are missing first!


	45. Chapter 42: Pitch Black vs Mother Nature

Author's Note: I _knooow,_ this is SO late. I'm sorry! To make it up to you, not only do I have the next chapter, it skips around to EVERYONE and has Pitch confronting Mother Nature finally. This is a very tense chapter, with lots of potentials for cliffhangers that had me going.. "Now, if I stopped _here.._ " But I knew you guys would kill me, so..

Usually I would do reviews, but I know you guys just want to get on with the reading, so let me just say a very big thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved and followed this story. I hope that I did the argument justice..

Eh.. anyway! Chapter time!

Chapter Fourty-Two: Pitch Black vs Mother Nature

Pitch continued to glare fiercely at poor, confused Jasper.

"Wh-why - " he started, then paused as he felt the scythe move just a hair closer to his neck. If it moved any more, it would be cutting into his delicate skin. "Why do you care about the n-new Spring Sp-spirit?" Jasper finished his question, his voice several octaves higher than normal.

"What does it matter to you?!" Pitch snarled. "Answer me! WHERE. IS. SHE."

"M-Mother Nature asked the Spring Spirit and Frost to stay after! Sh-she wanted a word with them! _Please_ don't kill me..!" Jasper pleaded.

Pitch stared at Jasper, his mind whirling. What would Emily - no, _Mother Nature_ want with Lillian and Jack? Then his eyes narrowed in consternation. Could she possibly know about their connection to him? But how could she possibly?

Jasper tried very hard to stay perfectly still as Pitch narrowed his eyes. He could see that Pitch was annoyed.. concerned..? He was _something_ alright, and Jasper could see that it probably meant the end of his life as a spirit.

He just _knew_ that Pitch was going to -

"Take me to Mother Nature. _Now._ " Pitch suddenly demanded, withdrawing the scythe to allow Jasper to move a little without accidentally beheading himself.

"Wh.. what?" Jasper asked in shock.

Pitch frowned at Jasper, who nodded at Pitch's request, then looked hesitant.

"Ah.. I don't really _know_ where she lives precisely," Jasper started, then hastily continued at Pitch's darkening expression. "But my sprites do! I just need to pop home quick and get one of them to lead me to Mother Nature's. Usually when she needs to see us, she'll either come to us or send a letter that will take us to her."

Pitch absorbed this very quick explanation and his frown deepened. This sounded like it would take some time to get there, and he didn't want to take any time. He thought suddenly of North and his snow globes but then quickly dismissed the thought.

No, the Guardians didn't need to get involved in this. This was his business, not theirs.

Decision made, Pitch reached out and clamped one of his pale hands down on Jasper's arm.

"Do it," he ordered.

Looking very apprehensive, Jasper reluctantly vanished with Pitch in a swirl of fall leaves.

* * *

It had been a hectic day at the Pole. When Jack had first arrived at the Pole, everyone had been very worried about poor Jack and had hovered like crazy. But then Jack's fever had finally broken and he had been on the mend, so the visits were less frequent. Especially when a visit meant some form of snowball to the face or a wintery blast.

A bored Jack was not a good thing.

So all the Guardians found one reason or another to avoid visiting Jack's room. They hadn't seen Lillian around either, but that was easily explained by her visiting Jack and they were probably causing all sorts of mischief in his room, so it was probably best that they leave the two spirits be.

It wasn't unusual not to see Pitch either, since Pitch went back and forth between visiting Jack and Lillian and they did want to give him his privacy, after all.

So it wasn't until the three spirits had been missing for several hours before the Guardians realized that something was wrong. Sandy had shown up in the early afternoon and looked around the Pole with an eyebrow raised. North was busy with his yetis, and naturally there wasn't any sign of Tooth since she was busy with her own fairies.

But Bunny was there, and he was in the globe room trying to look busy when all he really was doing was watching two blue lights on the globe while he paced back and forth.

The blue lights on the globe were shining brightly earlier, but now they looked dimmer somehow. He couldn't understand how that could happen, as both Jack and Lillian were right there at the Pole! The last time he had wandered by the door to Jack's room, he could feel the freezing air coming from the crack under the door and decided that if Jack had used his powers so much, that he must be feeling better.

That had been at around ten in the morning and now it was after noon. He stopped pacing when he felt a tap on his arm and looked down to see a perplexed Sandy staring up at him with a golden question mark above his head.

"Look," Bunny said as he gestured at the globe.

Sandy looked and didn't like what he saw. Jack and Lillian's lights were not as bright as they should be. Jack's had dimmed somewhat when he was sick, but as he got better his light had bounced right back to its usual brightness.

Sandy raised an eyebrow at Bunny.

"I don't know!" Bunny threw his arms up in the air. "I thought Jack was gettin' better, but now.."

Sandy could see the reluctance Bunny had at visiting Jack and was confused until he realized.. Bunny and Jack were tentatively starting to get along a little better, and so were Bunny and Lillian. All that toy making had helped bring them a little closer, and now Bunny was afraid that by visiting them, they might reject him.

But if Jack and Lillian needed the Guardians, Bunny could hurt their relationship just as much if he _didn't_ visit them.

Sandy raised a finger into the air as if on the verge of explaining this, then shook his head and grabbed Bunny's arm. He hauled Bunny right off to Jack's room.

"Whoa! Hey.. Sandy?! Where are ya takin' me?!" Bunny exclaimed, but soon he could see where they were going. "Sandy.. I ah.. I don't know, mate. Maybe Jack wants time ta himself."

Sandy rolled his eyes at Bunny and knocked on the door. They waited a moment, but didn't hear anything, so Sandy pushed open the door.

A winter wonderland greeted them, complete with snow _everywhere_.

Bunny peeked in the room and shuddered. Thankfully he hadn't been there when Jack had done _that._ He looked over at the bed and could see that the covers were mussed, as if Jack had been there not long ago.

"Where is he?" Bunny asked as he scratched his head.

A golden flower appeared over Sandy's head with a question mark.

"Maybe," Bunny said doubtfully.

So with that, they closed the door on Jack's wintery room and headed off for Lillian's room.

Bunny knocked this time and opened the door. They both peeked inside to see that Lillian hadn't used her powers to decorate her room. In fact, her room didn't even look used. If it wasn't for the extra clothes, Bunny would have sworn that this was just another empty room that North didn't use.

Lillian's room was very neat and the bed was expertly made.

"Ya don't think they're in Pitch's room, do ya?" Bunny asked, starting to get a little worried.

Sandy shrugged, but it only took a minute for them to realize that Pitch's room was empty. His room was also neat, but they could see that at some point he had fetched his plans for the toys he was planning on making and had been working on them. Probably around the time Jack was feeling better and had decided to freeze his room, Bunny decided.

"Where are they?!" Bunny demanded.

Sandy frowned and shook his head. He had no idea where they could be.

Then Sandy's eyes widened, unknowingly at the exact same time as Pitch's.

For while Sandy could hear wishes, Pitch could hear fears.

It was at that moment that two child spirits were wishing and hoping with all their might, while their fears screamed out louder than ever before.

* * *

Lillian had drawn her cloak around herself, thanking herself yet again for thinking to wear it. She only wished she had thought to wear her boots, since her feet were a little cold. But she thought they were going to Mother Nature's and it would be much warmer there than Jack's room. In fact, she had almost not worn her cloak at all, but the thought of what Pitch would say had helped her.

That, and Jack's room was _freezing._

She looked glumly at the wall of water that was blocking the mouth of the cave. With that there, there was no way they were getting out of here. She _wished_ Pitch would come save them, but how could he find them?

 _What if Pitch never finds us?_

Lillian's fear called out.

 _What if nobody finds us?! What if -_

Lillian squeezed her eyes shut.

No!

Pitch WOULD find them.

He WOULD save them.

He had to.

Lillian opened her eyes again and glanced at Jack. To her dismay, Jack had sat down so he was leaning against a cave wall, looking flushed.

He had this terribly lost look in his eyes that she didn't like.

 _He doesn't think we'll get out of here_ , she suddenly realized.

 _Does he think we'll.._

A memory came to her then, of a little girl sitting on the snow, wishing that she wouldn't sleep forever like her mommy.

Lillian stifled a sob and blinked her eyes against the tears that were threatening to fall.

NO!

She wouldn't let that happen!

She discreetly wiped her eyes and then walked towards the mouth of the cave.

Jack turned his head to look at Lillian, when realized that she was moving.

"What are you..?" he trailed off.

"Looking for a way out," Lillian said, her voice sounding much too grown up for one who looked so young. Her voice sounded hard, and determined. "We're getting out of here!"

Jack wrapped his arms around his legs as he watched Lillian.

 _I wish we would find a way out_

He sighed as rested his head on his knees. He didn't want to worry Lillian, but he was starting to feel worse again. He had a feeling his cold, which had been going away, was now back with a vengeance.

 _How can we find a way out..? I don't think Pitch will ever find us._

Jack closed his eyes as his fear washed over him.

As his doubts and fears grew, a blue light on the globe grew even dimmer.

* * *

Jasper and Pitch appeared right in Jasper's room, to the surprise of one of the Fall sprites who was standing guard still over Jasper's paints.

Jasper couldn't help but give a small smile at that. She sure did love his paintings.

He walked over to her and picked her up gently in the palm of his hand.

"I have a job for you," he told her seriously.

Her eyes sparkled happily, but then she spotted Pitch in the background and shot him a distrustful look.

"It's alright," Jasper soothed her. "I have an important errand I must do, and I need you to lead me to Mother's Palace. I have.. I have business with her."

Jasper felt a little guilty about the lie, but he didn't have time to properly explain the situation to his sprite and he had a feeling that Pitch didn't care about removing a few of his less necessary appendages to get things moving along.

The sprite nodded and flew up into the air, her leaf-like wings fluttering. She took off like a shot and Jasper grabbed a hold of Pitch's arm as he ran out of the room.

"This way!"

A flabbergasted Pitch followed after Jasper.

"Are we _running_ there?!"

* * *

 _I wish Pitch would save us!_

 _I wish we would find a way out._

 _Please let Pitch save us..!_

 _..I wish..._

Sandy's eyes widened as he was suddenly barraged with wishes. Sure, children, adults and spirits were wishing all the time at he could constantly hear them in the background.

He was usually able to absorb them subconsciously or at least tune them out somewhat when he was busy, but these wishes were very powerful ones.

Except for that last one. That last one was very worrisome as it wasn't finished. It was as if the wisher had given up mid-wish, as if they had decided that wishing was pointless.

That _hope_ was pointless.

He had a sinking feeling that it was either Jack or Lillian's wish and he didn't want to know what caused that.

He could tell from their wishes that they were in some sort of trouble, if they kept wishing that Pitch would find and save him.

A small part of himself was disappointed that Jack and Lillian weren't wishing for the Guardians to come save them, but he could understand. Their relationship was far from fixed, and Pitch had been there for them all along.

Well, _mostly_.

Sandy furrowed his brow. Even when Pitch was evil, he was still protective of Jack and Lillian.

Then he shook his head. He was getting off tangent here and they didn't have time waste.

A series of golden symbols appeared above his head and Bunny cursed.

Jack and Lillian, and quite possibly Pitch were all in trouble.

Bunny and Sandy shared a grim look before they dashed off to tell North.

It was time to assemble the Guardians.

* * *

Jamie sat with his friends at lunch, looking puzzled.

"Ok, so you overheard Mr. Underhill say _what?_ " Jamie asked Pippa again.

"You know he likes to keep up with the news," she replied to Jamie. "So he gets all these updates on his phone, and I overheard him talking to Mrs. Grima about this one he got. It said that there was a waterfall that had frozen solid."

The kids all exchanged looks at that.

"You think it's Jack?" Monty asked.

"Who else could it be?" Caleb replied.

"But _why?_ " Jamie asked. "And why so far away? You said it was in South America or Asia or something, right?"

Pippa shrugged.

"I didn't hear where it was. I was going to be late for my next class."

"The Guardians would know," Cupcake said reasonably. "Or Pitch."

Jamie shivered a little at that.

He could still remember the look Pitch gave them after he had caught them all talking about him.

Yeah, he wasn't about to go find the _Boogeyman_ to ask what was going on with Jack.

Still.. Why would Jack freeze a whole waterfall?

* * *

Pitch had been running with Jasper, and he was not amused. Apparently, Jasper had no mode of transportation except for teleporting with his leaves, so they were forced to run after Jasper's sprite.

At least until they hit civilization, and Jasper lived very far away from civilization. After that, Jasper had decided that riding on top of cars was the way to go.

Jumping onto a moving vehicle was _not_ on Pitch's list for fun things to do.

He sat grumpily on top of a bus that they had climbed on at a red light, when Jasper's sprite had flown up higher and had been more difficult to see. It was as he was sitting that the fear hit him all at once and his eyes widened in surprise.

 _What if Pitch never finds us?_

 _What if nobody finds us?! What if -_

The fear had paused, but then continued on in a whisper, as though the person thinking it didn't want to hear the rest.

 _What if we die?_

That fear.. It sounded a lot like Lillian's, Pitch realized.

He was already overwrought with worry, and was starting to get _more_ worried, when Jack's fear hit him next.

 _How can we find a way out..? I don't think Pitch will ever find us._

 _No one will find us._

 _We'll be alone here forever._

 _..At least until I melt and Lillian freezes._

It was that last thought that had Pitch sitting up straight.

He was about to yell at Jasper to get his stupid little fairy to _hurry up_ , when they passed an electronics store and a news report came on. They passed by too quickly to see or hear much, but an image stuck in Pitch's mind.

It was a waterfall that was frozen solid.

And then he knew.. That's where they were.

* * *

A little before the kids' lunch hour, Lillian had been examining the mouth of the cave and was trying to quell her panic, which was threatening to overwhelm her.

The roar of the waterfall was deafening and she was dismayed to see that there really wasn't any way out of the cave, unless they decided to jump down to the water below.

She looked down at the water, which seemed to be a long way off doubtfully.

 _I wish Jack had his staff_ , she thought ruefully, unknowingly sending Sandy into a panic.

She stared out at the water and then remembered the time that Jack had dressed up as Jack Frost for Halloween.

 _"Do you need your staff to use your powers?" she had asked him._

 _"It helps me focus my powers. Like your bracelet helps you with yours. I can probably keep up the ice on my costume without it, and maybe use a little to amaze some kids, but I wouldn't be able to do much else." Jack had said._

Lillian continued to stare at the waterfall.

Jack's staff helped him focus his powers, but that meant it didn't actually _create_ anything. That meant that Jack's powers were inside of him, waiting to be used.

Her bracelet helped focus her powers too, Jack had said, so that meant that it didn't actually _create_ anything either. All her powers were still deep inside her, waiting to be used.

The air around them was cool because of the waterfall, she knew. But what if the air were colder?

She knew she could raise the temperature of things, so that meant she probably could do the opposite and lower temperatures as well.

She took a deep breath, and concentrated harder than she ever had before. She had closed her eyes to concentrate, but if she had opened them, she might have seen her fingertips begin to glow softly.

She could feel the air around her, little by little, get colder and colder. When the temperature near the water was significantly lower, she called out to Jack.

"Jack, come here!"

Jack frowned as he heard the strain in Lillian's voice. Concerned for his friend, he slowly got up to his feet and wandered over by her.

"What - " Jack started then stopped. He gasped as he felt that air by Lillian was much colder than the rest of the cave.

"Freeze the water Jack," Lillian said to him, her eyes still closed. "You can do it! We can use our powers still. It'll get Pitch's attention. He'll find us!"

Jack looked down at Lillian. He really didn't think she'd be able to do much of anything without her bracelet, but here she was, changing the temperature.

Jack could see how much his friend was concentrating and how much of a strain it was to try doing so much without her bracelet.

If she could do it, then he could too.

With that thought in mind, Jack reached out as far as he could from the cave.

He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could.

 _This would work._

..It had to.

* * *

Pitch Black stormed into Mother Nature's palace with Jasper and his sprite on his heels. It had been a very annoying and tiring trip to the palace. Not to mention extremely tense after he had seen the news report.

As they were already well on the way to Mother Nature's, Pitch had decided to continue on with the trip as he had a thing or two to say to her.

His black cloak flared after himself and if there had been any spirits left, they would have all fled in terror at the sight of his expression.

Mother Nature stood from her throne as Pitch stormed inside. She looked completely shocked, before she clenched her hands into fists at her sides.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" she demanded.

"How dare you!" Pitch shouted as he walked right up to her. "HOW DARE YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THEM!?"

Mother Nature glowered at Pitch, a look which was returned tenfold.

"So, you've come to find _them?_ When you didn't look for me?"

For an instant, it looked to a stunned Jasper that Pitch was going to hit Mother Nature, but then Pitch lowered his hand, as if catching himself.

"I NEVER stopped looking..!" Pitch said, his voice sounding outraged while he had a tortured look on his face. "YOU were the one who turned their back on ME! AND on Jack and Lillian! Who is in charge of all the Seasonals?! And yet you sit here in your palace, while they're in harm's way! What kind of _Mother_ are you?!"

Mother Nature reeled back as if she had been slapped. Angry tears formed in her eyes as she glared at Pitch.

"You replaced me! You don't care about me..! You have a new daughter! A new child. You have no need of me. You replaced me just as you tried to all those years ago. I remember what you did to that girl!"

Mother Nature said, referring to what Pitch had done to Katherine so long ago. Pitch didn't really remember much about that, really. But he did remember bits and pieces of the terrible fight he had with Mother Nature then. It had been similar to this one, and she had accused him of replacing her then too.

"I wasn't myself then!" Pitch said angrily to Mother Nature. "And didn't you think I could have enough love for more than one child?!"

Mother Nature opened her mouth to argue more, but Pitch cut her off.

"I know that they aren't my biological children," Pitch snapped. "But they have earned the right to be called MY children, unlike you! I am ashamed to call you my daughter! How could you do this to them..?!"

Pitch said, his voice breaking at the end. Tears sparkled in his eyes, but he held them back.

"They trusted you," he said more quietly. "You were their leader and you betrayed them."

Mother Nature, who was normally so stoic and calm to her Seasonals, twisted her hands with anxious look on her face.

"..I.." she said, sounding suddenly like a small child who was being reprimanded.

"You make this right." Pitch said to her. "Tell me where they are. Now."

"..Father.." Mother Nature said in a small voice.

"You and I have much do discuss," Pitch said, his voice sounding strained. "But.. please. _Tell me._ "

Looking thoroughly ashamed of herself, Mother Nature hung her head.

Jasper, stood staring at the two with his mouth open, as he realized he could hear Mother Nature whispering something to Pitch Black.

What was that all about?!

* * *

Author's Note: Whew! There was a lot going on. I hope you guys like this chapter. I was a little iffy about the poor Guardians being so clueless, but I guess that's what happens when nobody tells them everything! So who do you think will reach Jack and Lillian first? Pitch or the Guardians? Also, I can imagine that Pitch's talk with Mother Nature later might be Tea Time with Mother Nature, which I think would be cute. If they can sit like adults without screaming at one another, anyway.

Did you like that I threw Jamie and the kids in there? I wasn't going to, but then I thought I should. If you're wondering about the waterfall, Lillian lowered the temperature around the water to make it easier for Jack to freeze it, since they both can't do a whole lot without their staff/bracelet, or so they think. Lillian realized that they probably could do much more than Jack thinks they can, since they still have all their powers, it's just harder for them to use them without their staff/bracelet to help focus their powers.

Anyway, I won't say when the next update is, since that always seems to backfire on me. If you have any suggestions for further plot, etc, feel free to let me know!


	46. Chapter 43: The Rescue

Author's Note: Here's a little update for you. It's a bit on the short side, but that seemed like a good stopping place. I decided to skip all over to everyone again, so enjoy that. :) I also wanted to add that I totally made a Lord of the Rings reference in the last chapter and was a little disappointed nobody pointed it out. Oh well.

Now.. Reviews!

The Girl in the Forrest was particularly amused at Jasper being the awkward third party. So was I!

CrossoverJunkie was helping me out with Jack and Lillian's future self defense lessons. Thank you very much! And you are right, Mother Nature was expecting horrible Pitch Black and she got someone very close to Kozmotis instead, yelling at her and sounding like her father.. I think it threw her off and that's what made her cave so easily to his demands. I felt like I should've drawn the fight out a bit longer, but I like how it turned out in the end. I also got the idea of Jasper and Pitch riding on top of cars from a movie that I now can't remember the name of!

Spiritfire was also amused by poor Jasper. He was fun to pick on. :)

PudinFeliz really liked all the angst, so I hope you like this chapter too then! Angst away!

Wuli suggested that the Guardians reach Jack and Lillian first, but since they were so late to even figuring out anything was going on, there really wasn't any way for that to happen.. Especially since Pitch had already had his huge argument with Mother Nature and she told him where Jack and Lillian were. Sorry!

Brenne, you calling Mother Nature "Mama Flower Power" made my day. That was so hilarious!

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and a special thanks to PudinFeliz for translating the Guest's spanish review for me.

Now on with the next chapter!

Chapter Forty-Three: The Rescue

It was late afternoon when the Guardians finally all got together. News reports of the frozen waterfall had gone viral and now _everyone_ had heard of the unnatural phenomenon. Everyone but the Guardians, that is.

While the Guardians knew that times were changing and technology was becoming more advanced, they were not. Tooth had her fairies to help her, and they painstakingly sorted all their teeth by _hand_. Tooth had no real use for anything electronic in her palace, nor did she bother to look at newspapers or news reports on the rare occasion when she did go out.

While North might be more familiar with technology due to the technological requests of some believers, he himself liked to do things more old school. He might use a chainsaw to make ice sculpture prototypes for his toys, but he did not watch television or have a computer. He had no time for such things when he had toys to make!

Bunny lived in the Warren which had all sorts of spring flowers, his home and his gardens, along with all his precious googies and the stone golems that protected his Warren. As he was almost constantly painting eggs (except directly after Easter), he had no time for the news.

As Sandy was as busy as Tooth, he had no time for such frivolities either. He did hear the occasional report when he was out and about delivering dreams from a tv that was left on, but like the others, he was too busy doing his job and worrying about children to worry about things like the news. Since he was already at the Pole when the big news break hit, he hadn't heard the news either.

In fact, even though the Guardians had all assembled and were all set to take off Avenger-style and rescue Jack, Lillian, and possibly Pitch, they didn't have the first clue on where to go.

Sandy had quickly explained once all the others were together that he had heard Jack's and Lillian's wishes and they sounded desperate. He said they kept wishing over and over that Pitch would come rescue them, but he couldn't be sure of where they were at, exactly.

Normally Sandy was the calm voice of reason, or at least his sand images were, but this time it was Bunny who had an idea of what to do. As Bunny was in charge of Easter, he was more familiar on working with the Seasonals and knew a bit about what they did, and of their leader, Mother Nature.

All of them knew who Mother Nature was, of course, but Bunny knew a little more about her role in watching out for her Seasonals.

They were all gathered in the sleigh and North had out a snow globe. They had been arguing on where to go for quite a while. It was at first suggested that they should see Pitch's lair, but Bunny had stamped on that when he had mentioned the Nightmares he and Lillian had found.

"OY!" Bunny said loudly, putting an end on the Antarctica vs. Anywhere Spring-like debate that the others had going on.

Everyone fell silent and looked at Bunny expectantly.

"Jack and Lillian are seasonal spirits, yeah?" Bunny said, giving them all a look. "So why don't we go ta Mother Nature's and see if she's heard of anythin'. I know it's.. strained with Pitch, but Jack and Lillian are hers. She should know where they are."

Sandy nodded agreeably with this, while North and Tooth exchanged uneasy glances. Mother Nature was always neutral in matters with Pitch, but Bunny was right. She _should_ help them out with Jack and Lillian.

After a moment, North nodded.

"Is good idea. Alright! Buckle up!" he exclaimed as he urged the reindeer down the roller coaster-like icy track.

After Bunny threatened to lose his carrots for the umpteenth time (after one eventful ride, North swore he was going to always have airsick bags), they got into the air.

North whispered their destination to the snow globe before tossing it out in front of the sleigh.

The Guardians disappeared through the colorful portal that appeared, finally on their way in the late afternoon.

* * *

By the time Pitch had left Mother Nature's and arrived in the country that Jack and Lillian were in, it was pitch dark. Pitch thrived in the darkness normally, so it was no trouble for him.

He glanced up at the moon that he could see clearly in the cloudless sky. It seemed to shine a little brighter than normal, as if helping to light Pitch's way. Even so, it took him a few hours to find the frozen waterfall. Thankfully it was still mostly frozen and the moonlight reflecting off of it made it shine like a beacon in the night.

As he approached it, his shadow was illuminated against the waterfall briefly, it looking huge against the ice.

Then he slipped into a shadow and found his way behind the waterfall and into the cave.

* * *

By the time that Pitch had entered the cave, it was after school and all the kids were gathered around at Jamie's, glued to the tv. Jamie was forever watching the news for any unusual things, so his watching it now wasn't anything unusual for his mom.

They were watching an updated news report about the frozen waterfall, and as a new picture was being shown, they all gasped.

"Did you see that?!" Jamie whispered excitedly to his friends.

"It's Pitch!" Pippa exclaimed with an awed voice.

While the news reporter was going on that there weren't any more clues as to why the waterfall suddenly froze, on the screen was a video of the waterfall at night. There, bigger than life, all the kids could see Pitch's shadow huge against the ice of the waterfall.

"But what's he doing there?" Jamie asked, sounding confused. "First Jack freezes the waterfall and then Pitch shows up. Something's gotta be going on."

"Do you think they're in trouble?" Cupcake asked.

"The Guardians would save them if they were," Caleb said reasonably.

"If they knew.." Jamie said doubtfully. "But what if they don't know?"

"We could always tell them," Pippa said. "It'll be night soon. We could tell the Sandman."

"No way," Jamie shook his head. "He always sends us to sleep before we can say anything. I stayed up one night because I wanted to talk to him and I fell asleep before I saw him."

"Anyone have a loose tooth?" Monty suggested hesitantly.

"The Tooth Fairy always comes when we're sleeping," Jamie said, shooting down that suggestion.

"We could write Santa a letter," Caleb said.

"That'll take too long to get to him," Jamie said with a sigh. "But it's all we have. Alright, let's go to my room and write a letter."

The kids all turned off the tv and trooped off to Jamie's room, determined.

Before long, Jamie was mailing off the letter before returning to his home to get a start on his homework.

* * *

Pitch stepped out of the shadow near the waterfall and saw a very flushed Jack leaning against the wall of the cave near it.

"Jack," Pitch said. "At last!"

He hurried towards Jack, who raised his head, his eyes looking a little hazy from the fever that had returned.

"P-Pitch?" Jack asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Oh Jack," Pitch's voice broke as he pulled Jack in for a hug.

The tears Pitch had been holding back all day finally fell.

"Don't you ever..!" Pitch exclaimed as he held Jack close.

What he was going to say though was lost as he started to sob. Jack clung to Pitch, feeling terribly weak and far too warm. He had stayed as close as he could to the frozen waterfall, but it still wasn't cold enough for him.

"L-Lillian.." Jack said, his voice muffled in Pitch's shirt as Pitch held him tightly.

Pitch let go of Jack as he tried to get control of himself. He looked around and immediately grew concerned when he couldn't find her.

"Where is she?!" he demanded, his voice cracking.

If _anything_ had happened to her..

Jack gestured to the back of the cave as he tried to stand.

Pitch hurried back there and almost tripped over Lillian, who was sprawled on the ground at the very back of the cave. She was curled up into a ball, her cloak wrapped as tightly around herself as she could and the hood was up. It was very dark in the back of the cave and her cloak was black, hiding her almost completely in the darkness.

Pitch knelt down and placed a hand on her.

"Lillian?" he said hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

Pitch was worried, since the air in the cave felt very cold. The cave was naturally quite cold and freezing the waterfall had only made it colder.

Lillian must have stayed in the very back and tried to warm the air, Pitch realized. Only she couldn't make it _too_ warm..

Pitch scooped little Lillian up into his arms and felt a hot surge of anger at Mother Nature as Lillian's hood fell away, revealing her cheeks flushed from the cold and her lips which were tinged a light blue.

 _She's practically frozen!_ Pitch thought with a snarl as he carried her back to the front of the cave.

At this rate she was bound to get sick too. He only hoped that her being in the cold so long and Jack's not being cold enough for so long wouldn't have any long-term effects.

He bent down and looped one arm around Jack's waist, hauling him up and half-carried him through a shadow as he held Lillian in one arm.

It was as they were leaving the cave, that the Guardians finally gave up on Mother Nature.

* * *

A little before Pitch rescued Jack and Lillian, the Guardians were at Mother Nature's palace. Jasper had left not long after Pitch after stammering that he didn't mean to disturb Mother Nature and he hoped that nothing was wrong with the Winter and Spring Spirit.

North had the sleigh land outside the palace and they had all marched or flown dramatically into the throne room to ask where Jack, Lillian and Pitch were, when the wind was taken right out of their sails.

They saw Mother Nature sitting in her throne, but instead of looking as regal as they had imagined, she looked completely devastated.

She had in fact, been berating herself ever since Pitch had left for betraying her Seasonals like that. She had allowed her jealousy to overrule her duties and now she had probably lost Jack and Lillian's trust forever. She was supposed to guide them, she was in a sense, their Mother.

The Guardians all stopped in the middle of the throne room and it was Sandy who finally stepped forward hesitantly.

A few golden symbols appeared above his head, but as Mother Nature was leaning on her elbow with a hand covering her face, she didn't see his silent plea.

It was Bunny who cleared his throat and finally Mother Nature looked up to see them all standing there.

She paused for a moment as if not believing what she was seeing, then sighed. She didn't seem too surprised to see them there.

Golden symbols appeared above Sandy's head as he asked her about Jack, Lillian and Pitch.

Mother Nature watched silently.

"..Father.. has gone to them," she said finally, her voice filled with regret. "He will have everything in hand."

"But we gotta know where they are," Bunny finally said after an awkward pause. "They could need our help."

North and Tooth chimed in their agreement, but Mother Nature wouldn't budge. All she would tell them was that Pitch had it under control.

As the Guardians finally gave up and took back off in the sleigh, Bunny glared at the portal of the North Pole that appeared.

"If Pitch woulda told us what he was up ta in the first place, we wouldn't have been travelin' all over for nothin'!"

* * *

Author's Note: Even though it was on the short side, I hope you guys liked this chapter anyway. We _finally_ get to see Jack and Lillian rescued. The next chapter will be the aftermath, which will include scolding from (and for!) Pitch and Jack and Lillian recovering from the ordeal. Pitch will most likely have a serious talk with them about Mother Nature and trust and things, while the Guardians will have a serious talk with Pitch about informing them on things. Because Pitch ran off without them, they were always one step behind.

Jasper will most likely reappear again soon, but probably not in the next chapter. I think once the letter from the kids finally arrives at the Pole that they'll become more involved with at least Jack and Lillian again. And eventually someone's gotta go back to the lair and make sure all it is completely Nightmare free!

So the characters will be very busy! If you have any further plot suggestions, I would appreciate it as I could always use more filler or things to happen inbetween now and the next major plot that is coming up. I'm thinking August should turn up again at some point too, since he needs to get more involved in what's going on with the crazy weather. We'll see! I also wanted to point out that this fic has 31k views. Yay!

Also, I had to point out that when it was said in the last chapter that it was time for the Guardians to assemble, I totally pictured something like the Bat Signal in the sky and them leaving dramatically from the Pole like awesometacular super heroes, such as the Avengers. I wonder if Lillian will try to get Bunny to make a comic book about The Guardians? :P


	47. Interlude 4: He Broke the Weather Chnl

Author's Note: I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted! Unfortunately I am _so_ not up to giving you guys a full chapter, so I'm giving you an interlude instead. Instead of showcasing a seasonal or anything cutesy, I gave you an extremely vague look at what's behind the weird weather, just to show that I AM thinking about plot and there IS something going on and it will be revealed.. all in due time. I kinda feel like a jerk giving you this, since it is SO cliffhangery and I have no idea when the next update will be. Just know that I will continue this story no matter what and I haven't given up on it.

Now.. Reviews!

Wuili asked about the blue lights. I guess I had them at the Pole the entire time even when Jack and Lillian were missing..? WHOOPS. Also, plothole since the Guardians/Pitch could have just looked at the globe to see where Jack and Lillian were. Uh.. there will be an explanation! I'll think of something. Thanks for catching my error though.

Apollomon x Stingmon suggested that Lillian should make a Guardians comic and it would be a good Lillian/Bunny bonding moment. This is sooo going to happen at some point. We need more Jack/Lillian/Guardians bonding! The fluffy times will be coming!

Brenne suggested that the Guardians also help care for Jack and Lillian, and I agree. If anything they will be getting a visit from Dr. Bunny.

Also, so you guys aren't confused, this interlude is a few days after Jack and Lillian were rescued. I might backtrack for the actual next chapter, so you can see all the confrontations and things. Can't skip that! Also.. I'm sorry this is so short.

Interlude 4: He Broke the Weather Channel

It had been a few days since the incident where the Winter and Spring spirit had gone missing. Other than The Guardians, Mother Nature and Jasper, no one really knew that Jack and Lillian had been missing. The kids from Burgess suspected something was up, but hadn't gotten anyone to explain anything to them yet.

So no one else in the spirit world or otherwise really knew what was going on. What had all the spirits in an uproar currently was the very strange weather. The humans had chalked it up to global warming. In Burgess the temperatures were already over ninety degrees and climbing. California had over one hundred degree weather and it wasn't even quite summer yet.

Yet in other places, it was unseasonably cold. Texas had record low temperatures, as did most of the southern states. In Orlando, Florida, the temperature was below forty degrees. People were frantically calling the weather station asking what was going on and if the world was ending.

And watching all this with malicious glee was a certain spirit. It had taken careful planning, but he had managed to pull it off. A few kidnapped Seasonal sprites here, a kidnapped Seasonal there and.. voilà! Total chaos. Ah, it was delicious. The best part was that no one would ever suspect him! Not those Guardians and certainly not that meddling Man in the Moon.

The spirit sat in his dark lair, watching all the events unfold through a special mirror he had on his wall. Like most of the spirits, he was not technologically advanced. An evil grin spread across his face as he saw people and spirits alike all panicking.

He just _knew_ that eventually the Guardians and the Man in the Moon would put it together and all blame Pitch Black. After all, look what Pitch had done! He had flooded the town of Burgess with Nightmares and _almost_ wiped out the belief of every child in the world. Of _course_ they would blame him for this latest catastrophe.

The spirit's mirror shifted its focus to show first Jack Frost and then Lillian. Both were in bed with colds and looked quite miserable. It warmed the spirit's black heart to see them suffering so. His eyes narrowed as he regarded the new Spring Spirit. She looked so.. young. Innocent. _Weak._

His grin grew a little wider.

Maybe it was time to make another Seasonal or two disappear.

In the background, locked away in small cages, several weary looking Spring, Summer, Winter and now a few Fall spirits and sprites looked on at the dark spirit in growing horror.

What was he going to do now?!

* * *

Author's Note: I made a reference to something this spirit might have done, regarding certain missing Seasonals. Didja notice? Have any guesses on what it was? Also, this new evil spirit is an original character. He seems to be working solo for now, but who knows?

As always, if you have any plot suggestions/ideas/anything, let me know! And I promise the next time I will give you a full chapter. With angst and confrontations and fluffiness. We could use a little happy before some evil jerk comes along to ruin it. Not to mention North has to get his letter.

 **Edit:** Forgot a few reviewers. My brain is too fuzzy to think about character requests at the moment, but I'll think about it. Also, thanks CrossoverJunkie for your suggestions and things. If I forgot anyone else, I'm sorry. I'll get everyone in the next update.


	48. Interlude 5: Let it Go

Author's Note: Yes, the title is a reference to Frozen. There's a reason for this. And I _know_ , another interlude. I looked at the last update date and felt super guilty. I do have almost 1000 words done for the next actual chapter, but I needed a break from it and decided to focus more on the captured Sprites. I wanted to delve more into the Winter Sprites, so here is a look at a couple of them and their determination. This interlude helps out the plot a little too! The Winter Sprites' names in this actually both mean Winter and I believe are.. latin? Or something. It came from a baby name site. I still imagine that the sprites speak in cute tinkly voices (while the male ones are not quite so high pitched, but still cute) and in a language that no human could understand.. But the Seasonals can understand them perfectly fine.

Now.. reviews!

CrossoverJunkie reminded me that Pitch _could_ think he had a hand in the recent weather disasters, as he doesn't really remember much of what he's done as Pitch Black. Oh, the angst! She also pointed out that Pitch has a good alibi so that the Guardians (hopefully) shouldn't blame him for things.

Cupcake wants me to update, so.. I updated! (Sort of.) Hope you like it.

Ayumu Hai pointed out that she hates cliffhangers, and I'm sorry to say this Interlude won't make you feel any better. It's a _teensy_ bit cliffhangery. I can't help it. I'm seriously not a jerk. I promise. Plus that really was a good ending place.

Brenne hopes that Pitch doesn't get blamed for things, but everyone does _not_ know he's good now. Sure, the Guardians do, but not _everyone._ The spirits are all wrapped up in their own powers and holidays and while gossip travels fast, not _everyone_ knows what actually happened in Burgess. They knew Pitch caused a lot of problems and the Guardians stopped him somehow, but no one really knows the full story.. So actually, a large part of the spirit world still thinks Pitch is pretty evil. Since Pitch never gets house guests besides Jack and Lillian (and maybe a poor Jasper), the other spirits haven't realized that Pitch has changed. This is why the dark spirit still thinks he can pin things on Pitch. _He hasn't realized Pitch is nice now._ Dun dun duuun.

Now.. on with the Interlude!

Interlude 5: Let it Go

While the trapped spirits and sprites were worried about what this dark spirit was going to do now, a few were conspiring. Namely, a few of the Winter Sprites. They were the ones who had been there the longest of all, _hundreds_ of years in fact. Jack Frost and Lillian were the only Seasonal spirits who didn't have any sprites or spirits (as far as they knew) and had to deal with all the bringing of their season on their own.

One of the winter sprites had shoulder length hair, that was white just like Jack's. She wore a blue dress decorated in white snowflakes and had a blue snowflake in her hair. She had on matching gloves and blue boots. Her cheeks were rosy and while her outfit looked to be in good condition for being so old, she herself looked exhausted. The lair they were in wasn't at all like Mother Nature's, which was just neutral enough to house any Seasonal Spirit or Sprite comfortably. No, this place was not ideal. The girl sprite, whose name was Neva, was conversing quietly with another winter sprite, who was male. He had on an outfit that was antiquated and was wearing a light, long sleeve blue shirt that had a v-neck and loose sleeves. He had on a white belt with brown pants (that looked similar to Jack's brown pants, oddly enough) with brown boots. His hair was also white and short. At his waist he had what appeared to be a sheathed sword of some sort and his silvery eyes looked serious as he regarded Neva. His name was Neve, although he didn't share any relation with Neva outside of the fact that they were both winter sprites.

Many of the other sprites were gaping at the dark spirit in fear or slumped over in their cages, looking defeated. Neva spoke quietly with Neve in a high tinkling voice that the sprites had. Her voice sounded almost like the tinkling of icicles if they were being tapped. Neve nodded at Neva in agreement. The time had come.. The world was in serious danger and they _had_ to get out. Even if only a few of them could escape, it would be enough. They could warn their Seasonals and get bigger and more powerful spirits involved.

Neva suggested that a Winter Spirit could break out of its cage more easily than they could (they were small sprites and could almost be mistaken for fairies of some sort) and would be better equipped to avoid trouble, as they were more powerful than the sprites.

Neve sighed and looked over at his fellow sprites and spirits. There were so few of the Winter ones left. Only the most powerful of sprites and spirits were able to survive for so long out of their element, but it was taking its toll. Even Neva looked to be on her last legs. If they didn't get out, soon there wouldn't be any of them left.

He turned back to Neva and spoke in a voice that was crisp and cool, but not unfriendly. He explained that if they used their powers all together, they might be able to summon enough of Winter to break the bars of the cave. Their task as sprites was mainly dealing with the small things of Winter, such as frost, and the bigger things like snowfall, was up to the main Winter Spirit.

Neva looked at the bars doubtfully. She had tried on her own to do something about the bars a few years ago, but hadn't been successful. The most she had done was make the bars cooler. Manipulating the temperatures was more of the Winter Spirit's thing, not theirs. She bit her lip. She was so tired.. She didn't think she could go on much longer. So many of her fellow sprites had given up and simply faded away, ceasing to exist. Not being human or born out of anything other than pure magic, they didn't die, they just.. stopped. Forever.

She remembered so long ago, being excited at the prospect of meeting the new Winter Spirit. Mistral had been a poor master, not understanding the need for balance of Winter with the other Seasons and had been cruel to his poor Winter Sprites and Spirits, working them constantly and barking out harsh orders. She couldn't remember the joy of the Season of Winter anymore. She couldn't remember the last time she had been happy, or a day that went by when she didn't live in fear of what the dark spirit would do..

She realized that she desperately _needed_ to make certain that the new Winter Spirit would be alright. He had looked ill in that enchanted mirror, and so young for a spirit. She worried about the other spirit as well, but the Winter Spirit was _her_ spirit. Even if she gave her life to free another Winter Sprite, it would be worth it.

That was what sprites did, they lived to serve their Seasonal and felt obligated to do what they said. She _needed_ to fulfill her duty. She needed to _live._

As soon as the dark spirit finished gloating and left the cave, the Winter Sprites put their plan into action.

The other seasonal sprites watched the Winter Sprites' efforts with mild interest, but most were too caught up in their own misery to care much. So only a few of them took notice at the sound of breaking metal and the tired cries of victory of Neve and Neva, the only winter Sprites with enough energy to fly with their delicate snowflake-like wings.

Neve, the stronger of the two reassured the others that they would fetch help as soon as they could.

The dark spirit's plans _had_ to be stopped.

* * *

Author's Note: What did you guys think? Do you like hearing more about the sprites? I'll be working more on the next chapter on the weekend, but I won't say when it will be out. I was happily writing about Jack and Lillian but Bunny had to pop up and stomp around and my urge to write for him kinda flew out the window, so I switched gears and went back to do another Interlude. I know the interludes were supposed to be about Lillian's book, but she has to be well or at least well enough to sit up to write in it! The next chapter will skip around points of view again. I kinda like the jumping all over to different characters thing, so if this style bothers you let me know. And if you guys are tired of hearing about the sprites and other Seasonals, I'll find something else to do for the interludes. I just thought it would be a way of introducing more aspects of the Seasonals/sprites etc. on the side without it being super major plot.

Anyway! Let me know your thoughts etc. And thanks for all the reviews.

 **Last Minute Disclaimer (and probably the last one): I own NOTHING, except for: Lillian, Lillian's parents, any Seasonal and Sprite except for Jack. I do not own Death, he's borrowed from Discworld. I do own the dark spirit. That is all.**

I think I covered everything.. Since everyone knows pretty much what characters I do and do not own, that's the very last disclaimer and I don't care if I have 100 chapters, that's it. There.


	49. Chapter 44: At the Pole

Author's Note: Here's the chapter finally! It's a little shorter than other chapters, but that's because I hit a good stopping point. There aren't even any major cliffhangers really. In the next chapter or two time should catch up to the interludes and then we'll see some sprite action in the main story. :)

This chapter starts off from Lillian's point of view after Pitch had taken her and Jack to the Pole. When it switches to Pitch's point of view, time backs up a little and goes back to right after Pitch left with Jack and Lillian from the cave. Just in case you find it a little confusing.

Now.. reviews!

Capricon Aquarius FOZ said they wanted them (the sprites) to be free. I do too!

CrossoverJunkie liked the interlude with the sprites as it expands the world a little bit more. She also suggested that Jamie might even be into ghost hunting or looking for UFOs when he's older and I have to say I found that really amusing since I LOVE ghost stuff and things with the paranormal. Maybe not as much as Jamie though. Anyway, I just wanted to show what was going on with the sprites that were captured too, and I know there's still a lot of questions to be answered, especially about the missing Summer Sprite that August saw in an interlude.

Ayumi Hai really liked the interlude and wished she could help with plot. Thanks!

Skypeoplephoenix732 read the whole fic in a few days and really liked how cute it was. Thanks! I'm glad that you guys like this fic so much, since while I enjoy my writing, sometimes I'm not sure if other people do too. :) So I LOVE getting reviews like this.

And since that's it for reviews.. On with the story!

Chapter Fourty-Four: At the Pole

Lillian was first aware that something had changed when she could hear what sounded like angry voices. She couldn't make out anything that was being said. Everything was so pitch dark, but that was alright. This time she didn't mind it. She knew that she had been so desperate for something, but she couldn't remember what it was.

All that mattered right now was that it was nice and dark. Then she realized suddenly that she could feel herself shaking. Or was she shivering? She also felt weighed down by something and her limbs felt very heavy. All she wanted to do was lay wherever she was and go back to sleep.

But the shivering wouldn't stop and the voices were too loud. Who was shouting anyway? She tried to make out what they were saying, and the muddled quality of the voices came into focus a little more.

"..Told us.. ya..!" a voice with an Australian accent was shouting.

"..time..!" a voice replied, a _very_ familiar voice.

What were the voices trying to say? Lillian couldn't hear them very well, even if she could make out more words.

"ENOUGH!" a loud, booming voice interrupted the two that seemed to be arguing. "..important.. Jack.. Lillian..!"

Jack!

Jack's name shot a jolt through her consciousness. Something had happened! With Jack! What was it..?

Then the memories came flooding back, a series of pictures lighting up the dark. It felt like years ago (could it have only been this morning?), that she and Jack had accidentally transported themselves off to Mother Nature's for the Seasonal Meeting. Mother Nature had been cordial during the meeting, but afterwards she had been so cold and angry.

 _Very_ angry.

Mother Nature had transported Lillian and Jack to that cave..

One of the angry voices intruded on her memories and she felt another jolt.

It was _Pitch!_

That was his voice!

Lillian struggled to open her eyes, but they felt so heavy and didn't want to open. Being so cold for so long definitely didn't do her any favors. She finally opened them and saw an extremely worried Phil hovering over her and piling more and more blankets on her. She also saw him slip a hot water bottle in bed with her.

"Phil!" Lillian tried to shout, but she was still so tired and her voice came out as more of a whisper. "Where.. am I..?" she asked blearily.

Phil began to tell her in yetish and Lillian looked confused.

Phil noticed this and gave her the 'one minute' gesture and then fled her room.

* * *

Pitch had whisked Jack and Lillian off to the Pole as quickly as he could. He was so flustered when he entered the shadow, he hadn't thought of where he was appearing really and so a shocked Phil saw Pitch appear suddenly in the workshop.

Pitch cursed when he saw where he was and thrust poor Jack in Phil's arms.

"Take care of him! Lillian needs the infirmary!" Pitch demanded and then rushed off with Lillian in his arms.

Phil gave Jack a concerned look and scooped Jack up in his arms and raced off for the infirmary too.

He burst through the doors to see a few yetis looking frantic and piling a lot of blankets on a lump on a bed, which he assumed was Lillian. He went to a bed next to hers and gently laid Jack down on it.

Jack was still flushed and looked weak from spending hours in a cave that wasn't cold enough for him. He sat up a bit and looked over at Lillian worriedly.

"Will she be alright?" he asked Phil, but kept his eyes on the mop of brown curls he could see sticking out from under all the blankets.

Phil nodded, but realized Jack couldn't see and gave a garbled affirmative in yetish.

It was as Pitch was frantically demanding the yetis to fix Lillian _now_ that the Guardians arrived back at the Pole. Since Pitch wasn't exactly being quiet, it took them all of three seconds to figure out where he was.

Bunny was the first to arrive as he simply opened a tunnel and hopped in before the other Guardians had a chance to do anything. Bunny came barreling out of the tunnel and straight to a distraught Pitch.

"What do ya think yer were doin'?!" Bunny yelled at Pitch.

Pitch looked a little startled to see an irate Bunny, but quickly waved it aside.

"Lillian and Jack need medical attention, now if you'll excuse - " Pitch started to say, but Bunny wasn't having it.

"You shoulda told us where ya were!" Bunny scolded Pitch. "We coulda helped!"

Pitch turned towards Bunny and glared daggers as the yetis shooed them out and slammed the door shut. They didn't need a screaming match with two patients that needed looking after.

"There wasn't time!" Pitch shouted out in the hall, sounding exasperated.

"ENOUGH!" North shouted as he and the rest of the Guardians rushed over, to see Bunny and Pitch at it again. "Is not important right now! What _is_ important is Jack and Lillian!"

Bunny looked a little abashed and Pitch glared at them all before wrenching the door back open to the infirmary and marching inside.

He didn't have time for any of this, he had children to look after!

As he marched inside purposefully he heard Lillian's faint question, asking where she was.

She was awake!

* * *

Bunny grumbled out in the hall about certain inconsiderate spirits while Pitch was inside the infirmary with Jack and Lillian. He couldn't _believe_ Pitch had the nerve to just run off while they had no clue where he was, causing them to waste hours looking for him, Jack and Lillian, only to arrive back at the Pole and have them all there with Jack and Lillian needing medical attention.. And did Pitch have the common courtesy to at least say he was sorry? Nooo. Not Pitch.

Bunny continued to glare at the infirmary doors as if they insulted him, while North and Tooth spoke quietly, wondering if they should go in or not or at least give Pitch some privacy with Jack and Lillian.

Sandy laid a hand down on Bunny's arm, as he heard Pitch's desperate wishes from inside the infirmary.

 _Please let her be alright! Let them BOTH be._

 _Please.._

* * *

Inside the infirmary, Lillian's field of vision suddenly contained an overly worried Pitch. She blinked up at him sleepily.

"How did you find us..?" she asked him quietly. "Where.. where are we?"

"Shh, don't strain yourself," Pitch responded as he felt her forehead. She still felt a little cool to the touch, but not as cold as she had been. "We're in the infirmary at the North Pole."

Well, that explained why Phil was there and all the yetis. She probably could have figured that out for herself, but she just felt like snuggling under the many blankets and sleeping for a few years. She had a horrible day.

Just as her eyes started to close, Pitch's voice startled her and she opened her eyes to see Pitch yelling at a few of the yetis about _why_ weren't they making sure Jack was cold, and another thing..!

Lillian smiled faintly at all the scolding. Pitch sure could yell, alright. She turned her head to look over at Jack, who looked flushed and out of sorts.

"Jack..?" Lillian managed, but didn't have a chance to say anything else to him as Pitch scooped Jack up into his arms and stormed out into the hall.

Lillian's face fell as they left, but she perked up a little as the big, furry paw of Phil brushed some of her curls away from her face.

"..You'll.. keep an eye on Jack, right..?" Lillian asked him softly.

Phil nodded and gave a garbled affirmation.

"..Good," Lillian said as she closed her eyes.

* * *

Pitch rushed back out into the hall and nearly slammed right into Bunny, who hadn't moved.

"Do you mind?!" Pitch huffed in exasperation as he rushed off to the room Jack had occupied previously.

The Guardians all looked at one another and then rushed off after Pitch, except for Bunny. Bunny looked after the others and then at the door to the infirmary.

He opened up the door and peeked in to see the chaos of the many yetis rushing around had stopped. He saw one yeti trying to get Lillian's vitals while Phil stayed by Lillian's side, gently stroking her curls and murmuring to her in yetish.

Bunny stepped inside the infirmary and walked over to Lillian's bed. Phil saw Bunny approaching and moved aside to give Bunny room by Lillian's bedside.

Lillian stirred as one furry paw was replaced with another one feeling her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open sleepily and she saw Bunny looking down at her, his green eyes filled with concern.

"How ya feelin', sheila?" Bunny asked her gently.

"Tired," Lillian replied in a soft voice. "My arms and legs feel tingly.."

Bunny nodded.

"That's 'cuz you were pretty cold fer a long time."

Lillian nodded a little, but her green eyes looked so sad.

"..Why does Mother Nature hate us..? She put Jack and me in the cave.. We couldn't get out..! I don't even have my bracelet anymore.."

Bunny sighed at the question.

"Mother Nature doesn't hate ya.. She just.. she's got some issues with Pitch, alrigh'? And maybe it wasn't fair, but she took 'em out on ya.. and Jack too."

Lillian's eyes looked a little teary and she sniffled.

"..I was so scared.. I didn't.. I thought Pitch wouldn't find us.."

Bunny reached over and brushed the tears away from Lillian's face that had started to fall.

"I know Pitch takes care of ya, but we were lookin' fer ya too. We all were very worried about ya," Bunny admitted.

Lillian's lip trembled.

"'M sorry, Bunny.." she said in a wobbly voice, filled with regret. She hadn't given the Guardians a second thought in the cave. All she could think about at the time was how Pitch _had_ to save them.

"Don't worry about it," Bunny said gently. "Just next time, don't forget about us. We're there fer ya too."

Lillian nodded as a few more tears fell.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked in a small voice.

Bunny's eyes lit up and he smiled at her.

"I wouldn't leave fer the world."

* * *

Pitch rushed into the room that had been Jack's previously and gently set him down on the bed. He then ran to the window and quickly unlocked it and threw it wide open, so Jack would have a nice cold room.

He turned to yell at the yetis to bring in some snow, when he saw the remaining Guardians instead.

"Jack's going to need a lot of snow or ice," Pitch said, deciding he should not yell at the Guardians, especially since they were in North's home.

He avoided their gaze as he could tell that _he_ would be in for a scolding soon, if Bunny's accusations out in the hall were anything to go by.

"Of course!" North boomed out and went to fetch some yetis to grab some snow for them.

Tooth and Sandy made their way over to Jack's bed and looked down at Jack.

"Will he be alright?" Tooth asked, as she smoothed out Jack's hair, feeling how he wasn't as cold as he normally was.

"..I think so.." Pitch said a little uncertainly. "If we can get his temperature down. It looks like his fever came back.."

Sandy gave Jack a thumbs up and a hopeful smile.

Jack returned Sandy's smile wearily.

"Thanks, Sandy.." Jack said faintly as North rushed back in with some yetis and a bunch of snow.

They unceremoniously dumped the the snow on Jack and Jack was temporarily covered in a big mound of snow with only his feet sticking out underneath.

Pitch rolled his eyes at this.

"I said he needed snow, not to be suffocated by it!" Pitch scolded as he scooped down into the middle of the snow. The yetis looked guilty and helped Pitch out and soon they had the snow arranged so it was all around Jack, but not completely covering him like before.

Pitch jumped a little as North's big hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Now that we know Jack and Lillian are safe," North said to Pitch pleasantly, "Is time for us to talk."

Pitch fought to keep the guilty look off his face as North lead him outside of Jack's room, while Sandy offered to stay behind with Jack.

Tooth trailed after North and Pitch out into the hall.

"Now," North said looking at Pitch seriously. "You tell us your side of story."

Pitch sighed and took a deep breath.

This was _such_ a long day.

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, so before you guys get mad at Pitch for tossing Jack aside like a sack of potatoes at Phil and rushing off with Lillian, he was just extra worried about Lillian because she was unconscious and a little blue, whereas Jack was mostly conscious.. So he figured Lillian needed more medical attention at the moment. But he made up for it later.

Did you like the sweet moment with Bunny and Lillian? That was really a conversation Pitch was going to have, but Bunny was there and Lillian couldn't help herself. Plus I think it's important that Jack and Lillian have some bonding moments with the Guardians too.

As for where the story ended, I figured we all knew Pitch's side of the story so it wasn't _really_ a cliffhanger I left off on.. right? Anyway, let me know if you have any plot ideas.. I'm thinking if this fic goes on long enough for Jamie to grow up, he'd totally have his own paranormal investigation team and be all Ghost Hunters in Burgess with his friends, if he could drag them along. I guess I could see Jamie being one of those rare adults who never give up on believing in Santa, etc, if he'll still believe in ghosts and things when he's older. But then that makes me wonder if ALL people who believe in the unusual and paranormal would be able to see the Guardians.

And now I want to do a side story with grown up Jamie hunting down ghosts! Erg.. I think I'll save that for later though, since it takes me long enough to update THIS story. Anyway, enough rambling! Thanks for all the follows, reviews, and faves!


	50. Interlude 6: Who You Gonna Call?

Author's Note: Ok, ok! I admit it! I got distracted by this little plot and _had_ to do it. This takes place in the future (2022!) and has Jamie at around 18 years old. He's decided to do a little paranormal investigating..

I also apologize for tugging on your heartstrings here. But I _had_ to. Really. I'll get to the reviews in the next actual chapter, so for now.. enjoy this little interlude that has absolutely nothing to do with current plot. It's just a little oneshot set in the same world, in the future.

Interlude 6: Who You Gonna Call?

It had been almost a decade since that fateful year that Pitch Black had gone (more) evil and tried to vanquish belief once and for all. Jamie Bennett had many adventures with one of his best friends, Jack Frost, as well as all the Guardians. Jamie always had the light of belief in his eyes, since he had met the Guardians themselves when he was at an impressionable age, and the memories stayed strong.

It had been hard for him when he grew older than Jack, and it was surreal for him that Lillian, the little spring spirit, would always look like she was six years old. Jamie still liked playing around with Jack and he was still up for a snowball fight as he was when he was a kid.

Although lately, he had started to get even more interested in the paranormal and had even decided to start up his own little paranormal investigation group. Thankfully digital recorders were pretty cheap, as were digital thermometers and emf detectors. His mom wasn't interested in donating to his funds, so he did what any teenager would do, he got a job.

Washing dishes wasn't all that it's cracked up to be, and he was a little annoyed when Lillian decided to follow him to work one day. He had a hard time explaining where all the spring flowers came from, and when Jack turned up at Pitch's request to fetch Lillian, he had no explanations on the suddenly frozen dish water, or why that patch of ice happened to appear under that waiter.

Nope, none at all.

But thankfully his manager didn't blame him for all these mishaps, so he was able to fund his ghost hunting hobby all by himself. Well, ghost hunting/UFO hobby.

They _were_ out there.

Why, Burgess had even gotten some crop circles out in the country near the town! It was a sign!

Jamie huffed in annoyance as he thought of it.

Yeah, a sign that Jack and Lillian were bored.

Those two and their pranks!

But now Jamie was all set. He had a digital recorder, digital thermometer and an emf detector. He was all set to record ghostly voices and detect unusual cold spots and high emf!

He even had a house to investigate, which was a super creepy house that was abandoned. It was rumored to be haunted and that the last owner had died sometime in the 90s, which was _forever_ ago.

Jamie had tried to get some of his friends to come along, and they had gone on many adventures in the past, but his friends tended to roll their eyes at things like ghosts and UFOs. Tell them about a new Seasonal spirit or one of the Guardians and they were all ears, but everything else? Nope.

Jamie had also wanted a mini-camcorder, but that was beyond his budget, so he was reduced to taking photos and videos from his phone. The quality was pretty good, but he knew that ghosts tended to drain the batteries on things and hoped that this wouldn't be the case for him.

So it was with excitement and a little trepidation that he walked up to the dilapidated house, that had rotting porch steps. He carefully picked his way around the holes in the boards and stood in front of the front door. The screen door was practically falling off its hinges and was dangling crookedly from its frame.

Just for the fun of it, Jamie rang the doorbell.

 **DING**

 **DING**

 **DING**

Jamie shook his head with a smile at the clearly broken bell. He turned on his digital recorder and spoke into it.

"This is Jamie Bennett at the old Parker house, 11:59pm. So far all is quiet, except for the broken doorbell."

He clicked off the recorder and thought for a moment how silly this was. Here he was in the middle of the night talking into a digital recorder while he was planning to investigate some moldering old house that hadn't been occupied in _decades_.

But then he thought of collecting _actual evidence_ of a ghost.. an actual ghost! And his excitement took over. He opened the door, which wasn't locked and wandered inside.

He clicked his digital recorder back on tucked it into his back pocket while he dug out his flashlight. He clicked it on and wandered around the living room.

"This is Jamie Bennett in the living room of the old Parker House, 12am. I am now trying to make contact with any paranormal life.."

Jamie took a minute to clear his throat.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he called out. "My name is Jamie Bennett and I wanted to talk to you. Hello?"

He didn't hear anything, but that didn't bother him. He knew from his research (watching paranormal tv shows and searching the internet) that you often didn't hear anything when trying to obtain EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon), but when you played them back, sometimes there'd be an unexplainable voice on the tape.

It was creepy, but cool. He was also interested in experimenting with Jack and Lillian on recording them, since he wanted to see if adults could either see or hear them, or if only kids (or teens.. or adults!) that believed in them would be able to see and hear them.

"What's your name?" he asked after a pause. "What happened to you?"

He left the recorder running as he wandered over to the stairs. In the pitch dark they looked pretty ominous. As he neared the bottom of them he shivered as the temperature suddenly dropped. With a gasp he quickly rummaged around in his bag that he brought and got out his digital thermometer. He checked the temperature of the room and slowly moved the thermometer through the cold spot. The temperature was significantly lower! Alright!

And he knew there was no way it could be electrical interference since there was no power to the house.

"Hey, uh.. if you're here.. I want to talk to you. Can you give me a sign that you're here?" Jamie asked the cold spot. He knew that cold spots indicated the presence of a ghost.

After he finished talking, he waited a good minute in total silence. When he was about to give up and head upstairs he suddenly heard a woman's voice.

"..No.. no please..! Don't..!" the voice cried out.

Then there was a loud noise, that Jamie thought sounded like could be a slap? Maybe.. and then the sound of someone falling down the stairs. Jamie backed away from the stairs hurriedly as the noise of something falling came right towards him. He almost thought he felt something brush his feet as he backed away.

He quickly exchanged his thermometer for his phone and put the flash on and then took a few pictures of where the cold spot had been, at the foot of the stairs. As he looked at his phone battery, he saw that it was more than half gone already and he had made sure it was fully charged before he left the house.

With his heart practically in this throat, Jamie waited for any other signs, but didn't hear anything.

"H-Hello..?" Jamie called out timidly.

This was kind of freaking him out. A _lot_.

He went back to the foot of the stairs, and waved his hand around where the cold spot had been, but he couldn't feel it any more. With a deep breath, he wandered upstairs.

"Th-this is Jamie Bennett.. now heading upstairs.." he said to the voice recorder he still had sticking out of his back pocket.

He wandered down the hallway and came to a bedroom on the left. He quick peeked inside with his flashlight and saw that it was a master bedroom. There was a good layer of dust over everything, but the bed was still made with a flowery bedspread that was very worn.

Jamie wandered inside hesitantly and instantly felt a heaviness that he couldn't explain. He was filled with dread just wandering into this room and he didn't know why. This room also seemed darker than the downstairs and more oppressive. He looked around in alarm, almost expecting to see a Nightmare come whinnying out of a dark corner, but he knew that was impossible. They had finally defeated all the Nightmares _ages_ ago.

Besides, he still had the power of belief on his side if it did turn out to be one last stray Nightmare.

"Now in the master bedroom.. It's.. ah.." Jamie glanced at his watch, only to see that the battery had died. He shook his wrist, but the watch didn't move. Didn't he just replace the battery last week?

"..Well, my watch stopped so I'll just say it's late." Jamie continued. "Now trying to make contact.. Hello? Anyone there?"

That was when Jamie heard stomping headed right in his direction.

"What are you doing here?!" a male voice thundered at him. "GET. OUT."

Jamie found himself backed into a wall from the stomping and _something_ knocked his phone right out of his hand, sending it skittering across the floor. He saw the flash go off as the camera was accidentally activated and Jamie let out a shriek of fright.

This definitely wasn't supposed to happen!

"How many times have I told you to stay out of my room you little brat!" the male voice boomed out at Jamie and Jamie felt something grab his jacket and physically shove him towards the door.

"..I..I'm sorry..!" Jamie cried out at the voice. He ducked and ran like crazy to the corner where his phone was and scooped it up, before hurrying right out of the room. As soon as he left, the door slammed closed behind him and he thought he heard some grumbling coming from inside the room.

Feeling his heart practically beating out of his chest, Jamie thought about abandoning his task. He already had plenty of evidence and even the bravest ghost hunter would have run right out of the house.

There were still a couple rooms to investigate upstairs however, so he wandered down the hall and peeked into a small room on the right. It was a bedroom, obviously a child's room since the bed in it was pretty tiny. Half the frame had actually collapsed and part of the mattress lay on the floor.

Trying to calm himself down, he saw a few crayon drawings taped up to the walls. He wandered over to see a picture of a family: a mom, a little girl and way off to the side was a drawing of a man with a frowny face. Jamie thought of the angry male voice in the master bedroom and decided this was an accurate depiction.

"Ok.." Jamie said to the recorder in what he hoped was a more calm voice. "Now I'm in a kid's room.. I seriously hope I don't run into Pitch here. This place is creepy enough. Now trying to initiate contact. Hello? Is anyone there? I-I mean.. anyone.. not creepy? Or angry? Someone friendly."

Jamie shot the doorway a nervous glance, as if he was expecting the angry male voice to come storming in any minute, demanding that he, Jamie, get out of his house.

But no angry voices did come storming in, and Jamie breathed a small sigh of relief. This was instantly followed by sharp intake of breath as he heard the woman pleading at the top of the stairs again, followed this time by the man's angry yelling and the loud SLAP. There was a terrible scream and the sound of someone falling down the stairs, and then.. nothing.

Jamie gulped. He had enough. He took one last look around the room and then bolted out the door. He made it to the top of the stairs when something roughly shoved him from behind and he almost fell down the stairs himself. He had to drop his flashlight, but he managed to grab a hold of the railing at the last second and stopped himself from falling. The staircase was a long one and looked treacherous to fall down.

As it was, he stumbled down a few steps before catching himself, and then he was off running again. He grabbed up his flashlight on the way down and almost flew to the door. He jumped the few porch steps down to the ground and took off running into the night.

He was later disappointed to find out that he had been in the house for not even half an hour. He had gone straight home after that, and after spending some time in the kitchen with a relaxing cup of tea (a habit he had somehow picked up from Jack, as Jack always said that tea calmed him down), he went upstairs to review his evidence.

What he saw almost made his hair turn as white as Jack's. He remembered hearing someone fall down the stairs and that he had snapped a picture of the cold spot right after this had happened, and so he plugged his now dead phone into his computer and waited for it to power up.

When it did finally turn on, he went into the pictures and found the one he was looking for. He was expecting maybe an orb or an unusual shadow or nothing at all, but what he saw instead was something right out of a horror movie.

There laying at the foot of the stairs was the body of a young woman. Her head was bent at an unnatural angle and there was a pool of blood seeping from her head. She had dark hair and her eyes were closed. As Jamie stared at the picture, some small part of him thought she looked a little familiar..

Then after trying to compose himself a little, Jamie rewound the recorder and pressed play. He heard himself talking into the recorder and the strange sound of the woman falling down the stairs. Then he heard the disembodied male voice yelling at him when he was upstairs. It was when he was in the child's room that things got _really_ creepy.

He heard himself say he was in the child's room, and then the noises started up again. Only this time he could hear the man shouting at the woman and the sound of a slap, and then.. he heard something he hadn't heard at the time.

He heard a little girl's voice.

" _Mommy!_ " the voice cried out. He heard the sound of running footsteps, light steps, like a child's and then from farther away he heard the child cry out again.

" _Mommy, wake up! Wake up..!_ "

The voice sounded so heartbreakingly familiar, but no.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

He heard heavier footsteps thunder down the stairs and then there was another SLAP and the sound of a little girl crying out.

" _Shut up!_ " the man roared. " _She's sleeping and she won't ever wake up! Now get back upstairs!_ "

Jamie heard the sounds of a little girl sobbing and felt his heart clench. He knew it was possible that events that had happened long ago, especially traumatic events could keep playing themselves out over and over, like a tape.

He stared down at the digital recorder and thought about the voice he heard.

It sounded just like Lillian's.

* * *

Author's Note: Did you see that coming? Now that I got that bug out of my system, I can continue on with the next chapter! Also, the wiki couldn't decide if Jamie was 8 or 10 in the movie, so it is loosely ten years after ROTG in this little oneshot.


	51. Chapter 45: Tea Time with Bunny

Author's Note: Wow! I never expected such a positive response on my little futuristic Interlude there. I was asked to update a little sooner, and people couldn't wait to see what would happen next. The only issue is that it was _supposed_ to be a little one shot, never to be resumed. Except now I want to continue it, so..

So! It will be a spin-off and will be gaining its very own story, since I don't want to clutter up Child of Spring with it. The Interlude it appeared in will be considered Chapter 1, and I will post that on its own later when I write Chapter 2 for it, which will take place directly after Chapter 1. I have absolutely no idea how long it will be, but there will be plenty of action and you _will_ see your favorite spirits there. Now, since I'll be writing this at the same time as Child of Spring, and Child of Spring plot isn't set in stone, you can consider this somewhat AU of Child of Spring and things that you see with the characters might not actually happen in Child of Spring! That said, it could hint at things that are yet to come in Child of Spring..

Whew! Sorry for the super long author's note.. Anyway! Now I'll tackle the reviews from the previous chapter and the interlude.

Starting with the previous actual chapter reviews:

Brenne thought Bunny and Lillian could be friends and help each other out for their season/holiday. She also wondered what North would do once Pitch finally finished explaining his side of the story and was looking forward to what was happening next! I do think Bunny and Lillian would be friends, and don't forget.. Lillian still has to visit the Warren for her book project. :)

CrossoverJunkie gave some good reasons for Jamie to not stop believing/seeing the Guardians, Jack and Lillian. She also was glad that Lillian gets to see Bunny not being a jerk for a change. And yes, everyone has layers. I loved that Shrek reference!

Wuili liked the chapter and suggested that Mother Nature return the bracelet herself and personally apologize for it. It's a good idea, since she needs to clear the air with Jack and Lillian anyway. I think she'll probably wait a little bit though, since if she went right away, feelings might be too raw.

Capricon Aquarius FOZ suggested for a plot idea that Jack and Lillian prank everyone.. And I agree! At some point, there will be plenty of pranks.

Now.. Interlude reviews:

CrossoverJunkie suggested that Jamie could go to Jack for help with life lessons, and I agree. Jack is hundreds of years old, and would have pretty good advice without going all parental on him. Jack would be the _perfect_ person to go to for advice. She also said that she could see Pitch and the others being amused with Jamie's fascination with UFOs, since they are pretty much extraterrestrials themselves.

The Girl in the Forrest called me names and that wasn't very nice. :( But I gave you feels, so I understand! Just wait until the continuation! Angst alert!

Brenne was wondering if Lillian would ever confront the spirit of her father in her old house, or if her father would realize what he did was terrible and seek forgiveness? Or will he be trapped there forever? Or will Manny and Pitch send him away for his crimes? Dun dun duuun. I think Lillian probably would avoid the house like the plague and wouldn't care to see her father again. Although on the other hand, maybe she should to seek some closure? I don't think her father realizes he's quite dead though. His spirit seemed to be acting the way it would if he was still alive and he seemed to be confusing Jamie for Lillian there, so he probably hasn't even realized how much time has passed. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens in Chapter 2!

Liza Mondragon seemed to be surprised at what happened, and I agree. Jamie did finally find out. What will he do now?

I am so sooo sorry for the terribly long author's note. Ok, now onto the next actual chapter of Child of Spring!

Chapter Fourty-Five: Tea Time with Bunny

Pitch took a deep breath and explained all about his horrible day, which started when he saw that Jack and Lillian were missing and all he did see on Jack's bed were the invitations to Mother Nature's. So naturally, Pitch thought that he should look at Mother Nature's palace for them.

Tooth exchanged a look with North as Pitch had explained that he returned home just to make _absolutely_ sure that Jack and Lillian weren't there, but met a number of Nightmares instead.

"Wait, what?" Tooth interrupted. "I thought they were all defeated!"

Pitch eyed her with a slight frown for interrupting him. Even though he hadn't wanted to explain in the first place, now he was getting into it and didn't like the disruption.

"Apparently not, since I found a number of them in my lair. Anyway, as I was saying.." he paused to see if anyone else would dare interrupt, and when he was met with silence he continued his story.

He explained about running into Jasper and how he convinced Jasper to help him out (completely leaving out the fact he threatened Jasper by nearly slicing his head off, but the Guardians didn't need to know about that little detail, now did they?), and how eventually Jasper and one of Jasper's sprites had led them to Mother Nature's.

"Pitch, if you needed to get to Mother Nature's palace, all you had to do is ask! Snow globe get you there the quickest," North said, giving Pitch a look.

Pitch avoided his gaze and didn't comment on it. He continued on to explain that he had gotten Mother Nature to tell him where Jack and Lillian were and then went on to explain how he found them fairly easily in a cave near a frozen waterfall.

"You should have come to us in the first place," Tooth said gently to him. "Instead of taking hours, it could have taken you minutes to find them."

"Da, is best you come to us.." North agreed with Tooth, "But is long time you ask for help, no? We used to be enemies, it must be difficult for you."

Pitch cleared his throat, looking somewhat uncomfortable. He jumped a little when he felt Tooth rest a hand on his arm, comfortingly. Sandy would have normally been the one to do so, but Sandy had offered to stay behind in Jack's room. Bunny was still with Lillian, which probably was for the best since all Bunny would have done is fume at Pitch.

"You know we'll be there for you if you ever need help," Tooth said with a smile. "And if _we_ ever need help from _you_ , we'll ask you!"

Pitch scoffed a little at that.

"What am I, a Guardian? What would you possibly need from me?"

North gave Pitch a considering look.

"Now there is a thought!"

Pitch gaped at North.

He _couldn't_ be serious!

* * *

After their talk, things settled back down. Tooth took over Lillian duty, as Bunny had said he needed to return to his Warren to make both Jack and Lillian some medicine that should help with their colds.

Since it would be difficult for Bunny to carry two mugs of medicine without spilling any through a snow globe, he (very reluctantly) asked Pitch if he would come along. Bunny tried at first to see if North would do it, but North claimed to be busy with making toys.

Bunny had rolled his eyes at this, seeing it for what it was. North was trying to force him to be with alone with Pitch, so they could make amends for their fight. It didn't take a genius to figure it out.

So Bunny had gotten a snow globe from North and then opened up a tunnel to his Warren. Pitch looked uneasily at the tunnel and was about to tell Bunny that his shadows would be safer, when Bunny "accidentally" bumped Pitch into the hole.

Whoops!

Pitch let out a yell as he tumbled down into it and Bunny hopped in after him with a smirk. North shook his head as he saw the flower appear in the floor of the hallway, and had a yeti add the spring flower to his growing collection he had around the workshop from Lillian's many attempts at breaking in.

A little while later, Pitch tumbled out of a tunnel and into the Warren, landing in a heap in the grass.

Bunny hopped out of the tunnel, landing gracefully on his feet and looked down at the heap that was Pitch.

"Have a nice trip?" Bunny asked him with a smirk.

"I'll see you next fall!" Pitch snarled at him as he grabbed Bunny's foot and tugged.

Bunny looked surprised as he was suddenly yanked off his feet by Pitch.

"Why I oughtta..!" Bunny growled as both he and Pitch got up to their feet. "What was that for?!"

Bunny glared at Pitch, and Pitch glared right back.

"You bumped me on purpose!" Pitch snarled at Bunny.

Bunny couldn't exactly deny this, since he did accidentally on purpose nudge Pitch into the tunnel.

"Ya were takin' too long!" Bunny finally answered. "Now are ya goin' ta stand there and sulk all day like a kid, or are ya goin' ta help me with this medicine?"

Pitch grumbled darkly as he saw Bunny turn and walk off, and reluctantly followed after. He was so intent on being grumpy at Bunny that he barely noticed the wonder of the Warren and didn't pay any attention to the little eggs with feet he saw running around everywhere.

He did glance around after a few minutes of muttering and noticed how _bright_ everything seemed. It was all so idyllic and spring-like, and he noted that it was a place that Lillian would _love_ to visit when she was well. He saw the dye river with its rainbow of colors. He looked up at the sky, which was a lovely shade of blue and didn't have any clouds.

Before long, Bunny had led Pitch to his house and ushered Pitch inside. Pitch was led to the kitchen, where he sat at a table. He was about to ask if Bunny needed his help, when a steaming mug was set before himself.

"Ya can have it while ya wait," Bunny said brusquely to Pitch and went about gathering the ingredients for the medicine.

Pitch looked down into the mug to see that it was in fact, a mug of tea. Looking startled, Pitch took a tentative sip of the tea to see that the flavor was unlike any other tea that he had had before.

He also noticed that Bunny had used tea leaves instead of a tea bag, which meant that it was something that Bunny had probably grown right in his own personal garden.

Pitch stirred his tea a little as he waited for it to cool before he started drinking it. He watched idly as Bunny went about chopping things that needed to be chopped and stirring things into a medium sized pot on the wood burning stove.

"What sort of recipe are you using?" Pitch finally asked Bunny, as the silence had been stretching on for too long.

Bunny glanced back at Pitch. A part of him still couldn't believe that _Pitch Black_ of all people was sitting right there in his kitchen, drinking tea!

"It's an old one," Bunny said sadly. "It's supposed ta be fer sick kits, but it seemed ta help Jack when I gave it ta him before. I think it should help Lillian too, since I'm sure she's gonna get a doozy of a cold too."

Pitch nodded at this and took a sip of his tea. He remembered the last time Lillian had a cold, and how it took her pretty much an entire week to get over it. If this medicine helped her get better faster, then he wouldn't object to it.

He thought of the Guardians and how they let Jack and Lillian stay there while they were recovering. He realized being stuck in his lair with two sick child spirits would have been a nightmare in and of itself, especially if it made their powers go haywire every time they sneezed.

A small part of him was grateful to the Guardians for their help (even Bunny's!), but there was another part that bristled at it and told him that he was more than capable of handling things on his own. He rescued them all by himself, didn't he?

Ah.. But he could have done so much sooner if he had sought help. Perhaps Lillian would have been saved from getting a cold in the first place.

Pitch sighed and drank some more of his tea while his thoughts swirled around. He realized that perhaps he didn't need to do _everything_ on his own. After all, he was always telling Jack that he would be there for Jack if he needed any help, and the Guardians were merely doing the same for him.

He glanced at Bunny, but Bunny seemed fully absorbed in his task didn't seem inclined to speak much further with Pitch about anything.

Before long, Bunny had the medicine separated into two steaming mugs. He set one down next to Pitch. Pitch looked down at it, but the medicine didn't look too much different from tea, except that it smelled unlike any tea he ever had.

Speaking of unusual tea..

Pitch looked at his own empty mug and then over at Bunny.

"What tea did you give me?"

Bunny studiously avoided Pitch's gaze as he fiddled with the other mug of medicine he was holding.

"It's from special tea leaves.. Last of its kind," Bunny told him.

Pitch looked back down at the mug and realized what Bunny was saying.. It must have been one of the few things Bunny had managed to salvage from his former world.*

"You would share it with me..?" Pitch asked in complete surprise. If anyone was the last person who deserved this tea, it was him. He might not be able to remember everything he did as Pitch Black, but he realized he did a lot of terrible things, and a number of them were to a certain Pooka.

Bunny looked down at the mug he was holding and there was a long, awkward silence.

Finally in a voice so low that Pitch almost missed it, Bunny finally muttered.

"..Yer different now."

Pitch stared after Bunny as Bunny walked off, leading the way out of his home. After a moment, he realized he was supposed to be following Bunny, so he grabbed the mug of medicine on the table and followed after.

 _Was that some sort of apology?_ Pitch mused as he followed Bunny.

He wondered if things would be different now, between him and the Pooka. As the two of them disappeared into a portal created by a snow globe, he figured only time would tell.

* * *

*I'm using my author's privilege here to assume Bunny rescued some tea plants from his world before Pitch destroyed it. Just go with it. :)

Author's Note: Did you see that coming? I'm not sure how it happened, but it went from me wanting a little time to pass (so Neve and Neva could finally show up!) to suddenly Bunny shoving Pitch into his Warren and then tea time happened out of the blue! It wasn't a traditional tea time since Bunny didn't sit at the table with his own mug of tea, but Pitch was there and he drank tea, so.. tea time.

I think Bunny finally realized that Pitch was different when Pitch didn't act all evil like he normally would have, and Pitch didn't even make any snide remarks about Easter.. or about the reference to Bunny's home world. So maybe while they won't be _friends,_ maybe they'll be able to be in a room together without biting each other's heads off. It's a start!

Oh, and on the little reference to Pitch being a Guardian, don't forget.. Jack still needs to be one first before anything else happens. I realized I sort of.. put it off, but.. but.. there was plot! And Jack is still just getting used to being friends with them again and things. But it'll happen, don't worry. I'm sure there'll be an awesome (fire free!) ceremony. Maybe Jamie and his friends can be there in this version too. :)

Soo.. if you guys have any comments or plot suggestions or anything, feel free to let me know!

Chapter 2 of the spin-off fic will be posted probably either tomorrow or Mondayish maybe. At least sometime soon! I won't post Chapter 1 until I'm ready with Chapter 2 so as not to tease you.

 **Edit:** I fixed about a bazillion typos. I have no idea how that happened.


	52. Interlude 7: Party Plans

Author's Note: Here is a short interlude to let you guys know I'm still alive. For those of you who don't have me on author alert, I posted up the spin-off story featuring Jamie. It's called Child of Spring: Jamie's Ghost & UFO Hunting Adventures. You can find it by clicking on my author name and looking at my stories.

So yes, I know.. this interlude is short. Lillian is pretty much thinking about her book and the other seasonals a little while she's sick in bed. It also has an incident that is briefly referred to in the upcoming actual chapter. I have that around half written, but it's being difficult so it'll take me a little longer to write. Just remember, even if it takes me awhile to get a chapter out, I won't abandon my Child of Spring stories!

Now.. reviews!

I only had a couple, so I won't go through each one, but I'm glad that people in general liked my last chapter even if it was super angsty. And no, I don't have school. Just life in general and work that makes me busy.

CrossoverJunkie also had an idea for Pitch bursting out laughing at a prank Jack and Lillian did and the Guardians all staring at him in surprise. She also had an idea for a Guardian meeting if Pitch becomes a Guardian. I won't say if he will or not or when that would be, but that idea is really cute. I can see that happening.

Now on with the interlude!

Interlude 7: Party Plans

Lillian was not a happy spring spirit. She was stuck in bed with a cold. Bunny's medicine had helped so the cold wasn't as bad, but still! To make matters worse, without her bracelet, her sneezes were _terrible_. Her powers were difficult to control without the bracelet and one sneeze meant disaster. If that wasn't bad enough, she was also extremely bored.

So with a lot of begging and watery eyes that may have been cold-induced and not tears of sadness, Pitch had caved and asked Phil to bring Lillian her notebook that she wrote down her ideas for her book in, as well as some blank drawing paper and some colored pencils, and something hard to write on.

So now Lillian was happily sitting up with a very old-fashioned lap desk on her lap. It had a hard wooden top and a kind of bean bag thing underneath. She used this as her drawing surface as she colored in a few pictures. It would be totally awesome if she wasn't sneezing what felt like every minute.

Not to mention with all the random spring flowers littering her room, even _she_ was getting a little tired of seeing them and was losing enthusiasm for drawing her spring scenes. She thought about doing some other seasonal scenes, but then wondered if August and Jasper had any artistic talent. Maybe they could all paint pictures for their own season for the book!

She smiled as she imagined the big Seasonal get together at Bunny's Warren. That would be so awesome. Her smile faded a little when she remembered the other seasonals hated Jack. It really wasn't fair! Hardly anyone liked Jack, except for her, Pitch, the Guardians and the kids.

She looked thoughtful as she stared down at her half-finished spring scene on the paper she had been drawing on. Maybe if she asked really nicely? Ohh, she could ask Sandy to go with! Sandy was pretty good at getting people to agree with him and maybe having a Guardian on her side would help. It certainly couldn't hurt.

She lay back against her pillow as she thought of the amazing fun all the seasonals could have when they got together. It could be like a big party! And they would all be friends. Or at least not argue with each other.

She was starting to drift off when she had a terrible sneezing fit and sneezed five times in a row.

Her eyes widened when she saw the dark storm clouds forming by the ceiling and the ominous flashes of lightning as a storm brewed.

Oh _crud._


	53. Chapter 46: Sprites in Need

Author's Note: Augh, the guilt! It burns! I'm SO sorry that it took me so long to update. Especially when my last update was a teasing interlude. To make up for it, I give you a chapter that is almost 3100 words, without the author's note. It's not terribly actiony, but it does explain more on what's going on with poor Neve and Neva, our two Winter Sprites in trouble. Actually, I really want to do my Party Plans Interlude now, so once plot is done getting in the way and there's time for some fluffy moments, that'll pop up. I'm also working on writing another chapter for Jamie's Ghost/UFO Hunting Adventures, so that'll be the next fic that gets updated, hopefully by this weekend? I won't say for definite though.

Now.. at long last, the next full chapter!

Chapter Fourty-Six: Sprites in Need

A few days after Pitch had tea with Bunny, two winter sprites left on their journey. They knew they had to get somewhere cold quick, but they also needed help. Neve looked at Neva worriedly. She was so pale and he thought she was starting to look a little transparent. Since the world was going through horrible weather changes, places they thought would be cool were actually very warm.

They needed to head to someplace magically cold.. Such as a Seasonal's home. His first thought was of Mistral's old place, but that was the first place that the dark spirit would look for them, he knew.

He thought of the other Seasonals he knew of. August, the Summer Sprite. There had been Leif, but.. no..

Neve shook his head to rid himself of the terrible thoughts. Leif had been kidnapped by the dark spirit long ago, along with the other Spring Sprites. At first the other sprites were excited, since they thought that surely a _Seasonal_ could escape, but it turned out that Leif simply wasn't strong enough.

The worst part had been when a new Spring Spirit was chosen.. No one knew that Leif was still alive.

Neve tried to block out the memories of Leif's cries, when Leif lost all of his power. Seasonals, Sprites and Spirits thrived on their magic power, and to have it all taken away like that..

Of course Leif hadn't stood a chance.

And like so many others, he faded away in anguish.

It was such a cruel way to go.. Neve hadn't thought that Mother Nature would give up on a Seasonal so soon.

With a sigh, Neve wracked his brain, and then he came up with the Fall Spirit. What was his name..?

Jas.. Jasper! That was right. Neve glanced back, and with a voice that sounded crisp as a winter wind, he explained to Neva his idea of visiting the Fall spirit for now. He could put them in touch with the current Winter Spirit, or perhaps transport them to Mother Nature's.

Neva nodded absently, looking very tired. No matter where they went, she wasn't certain she could make it there. She had used up so much of her energy on just trying to escape.

The weather outside wasn't helping either. It was so _hot_ out. Even if they did make it to the Fall Spirit's place, would the other Winter Sprites be able to hold on? So many of them had looked to be on the verge of disappearing.

Even she was starting to feel a little faded. If they didn't get somewhere cool, she knew she wouldn't last.

She shook her head and tried to muster up some determination. They were the only two that knew exactly what was behind the strange weather, and where he was. They _had_ to make it.

They had to.

* * *

Bunny had since given both Jack and Lillian his special herbal remedy for colds, and while Jack was feeling a little better, Lillian was in bed feeling miserable. The cold wasn't as bad as it could have been, but that still didn't stop her from sneezing quite a bit.

Without her bracelet to help her control her powers better, one sneeze was a disaster. The worst had been when she sneezed five times in a row and accidentally created a small thunderstorm in her room.

Who knew she was so powerful without her bracelet?

Lillian had problems getting the storm to go away too, so she had been moved out the room while the Guardians had tried to deal with it. Pitch was the one who actually made it go away, after he suggested that Jack use his powers to have the Wind blow the storm out the window.

Pitch had raised an eyebrow at the panicking Guardians at this. They really couldn't have thought of that themselves? Bunny had tried saying that he was just about to suggest that Jack do that, but Pitch wasn't fooled.

Honestly, didn't anyone ever _think_ anymore?

* * *

It was a few days after the storm incident that an apologetic Bunny finally got back to Jamie about his letter to North. Jamie was disappointed that Jack didn't show up himself, but Bunny quickly explained that they'd all been very busy, and Jack was just getting over a cold and didn't want to give it to Jamie.

Jamie was very interested in this.

"I didn't know Jack could catch cold! Can Lillian too? What about the Guardians? Or Pitch?" Jamie asked excitedly. "And what was up with that frozen waterfall? Did Jack do it for fun before he got sick?"

"Whoah there!" Bunny said, putting up his paws to signal Jamie to stop. "One at a time, mate."

Jamie looked a little sheepish and stopped asking questions.

"Now ta answer the waterfall question, Jack was.. er.." Bunny hesitated. The Burgess kids didn't _really_ need to know about Mother Nature, did they? "..Yep, he was playin' alright. But we had a talk with 'im. Well, Pitch did most of the lecturin'," Bunny said, as he thought about all the yelling when they had gotten back to the Pole. "As for yer other questions, yeah Lillian can get sick too. The rest of us? We're a little tougher since we're older. It's possible, but it takes more'n a cold ta take us out."

Jamie nodded his understanding.

"So Jack and Lillian are ok? We were really worried when we saw the waterfall with Pitch's shadow on it."

Bunny ruffled Jamie's hair affectionately.

"Everything's fine, ya anklebiter."

Bunny was about ready to take his leave, when Sophie toddled into Jamie's room.

"Bunny!" she shrieked and immediately latched herself onto Bunny's leg.

Bunny gave her a soft smile.

"Hey there." he said gently to her. "Guess I could stay a little longer, yeah?"

* * *

A few days after that, August was at Jasper's place, trying to sort out the mysterious weather patterns. Actually, August was ranting at Jasper, who was listening patiently while he painted, occasionally nodding and saying things like "Mmhm," while he painted.

The Fall sprite that liked Jasper's painting was perched on his shoulder and kept shooting August annoyed looks for daring to interrupt Jasper while he was painting.

Jasper was taking it all in stride, although August's rants were having an effect on his painting. Jasper had originally started out painting yet another fall scene, but August kept ranting about how too hot the weather was in his favorite places, or else too cold, and before Jasper knew it, his poor painting didn't know what season it was in. Jasper frowned as he realized he'd been zoning out a little (honestly, was August _still_ ranting?), and now instead of a lovely fall scene, his painting had somehow gained a frozen lake and the sunlight was much too bright, like it was summer.

Hmm.. Forest with a frozen lake..

He looked at his panting some more and realized with some tweaking, he could easily make it look more like Jack Frost's lake.

He shivered a little as he recalled that Pitch lived nearby. That meeting with him had been pretty scary.

"..Even _Florida_ is too cold!" August complained. "FLORIDA! I think even Texas has frost warnings, isn't that unbelievable?!"

At the total lack of response, August narrowed his eyes at Jasper, who was looking at his painting and nodding to himself.

"Are you listening to me?!" August demanded harshly, feeling that Jasper was not being a good friend at the moment. Honestly, all Jasper ever did was work or paint at home! The man was in desperate need of a social life!

"..Huh? Oh! Yeah," Jasper said awkwardly, while his cheeks heated up.

"What was the last thing I said?" August said, totally not convinced.

"Uh.." Jasper listened as his sprite discreetly whispered in his ear, and quickly replied. "Texas has frost warnings?"

"Hm.." August said suspiciously, but was cut off by the frantic cry of several Fall Sprites.

Jasper looked around at that and was surprised to see a few of his sprites surrounding two sprites with.. white hair? They were wearing white and blue, which were definitely not fall colors.

Wait..

White and blue?

That sounded familiar..

His Fall Sprites were practically carrying the other sprites in and gently set them down on the table with Jasper's paints.

His Fall Sprites were all frantically talking at once and gesturing at the two new arrivals when it suddenly hit him: They were some of the missing Winter Sprites!

He hadn't seen any of them in hundreds of years!

"..Wha.. How..?!" he exclaimed.

August looked at the two new sprites disinterestedly, until he took in their color.

"Aha!" he said, pointing at them. "Rogue Winter Sprites! I'll bet _they_ have something to do with all this strange weather we've been having!"

Jasper shot August an annoyed look at that. These two sprites looked very ragged and not capable of summoning a single snowflake, let alone making entire states far too cold.

He turned his attention to the two sprites. The male looked to be in better shape than the female and he was holding her protectively and glaring daggers at August.

"Hey there," Jasper said softly to them. "It's alright. You're safe now. I thought all the Winter Sprites were gone! We haven't seen any of your kind for a very long time."

Neve nodded gravely, after shooting August one last glare. He remembered a few Summer Sprites giving him trouble in the past, and how their leader didn't seem very interested in stopping them at the time.

Neve spoke gently to Jasper, but Jasper cocked his head in confusion. The Sprites all had a language of their own, and their respective Seasonal could understand them perfectly, but..

"Ah.." Jasper said hesitantly, "I'm sorry, but.. I can't understand you. I guess only the current Spirit of Winter can understand you."

Neve had stopped speaking and looked dejected at that. He didn't feel up to even _more_ traveling, and he wasn't certain how much more poor Neva could take. She was so pale, he swore he could almost see right through her. The trip to the Winter Spirit would be too much for her.

Neve looked at the Fall Sprites. The various Seasonal Sprites could all understand each other to a certain extent, but really only their Seasonal could truly understand them.

He spoke to them in his crisp voice, explaining Neva's dire situation. They cocked their heads at Neve as he spoke the foreign language of Winter at them. They could understand a little, but it had been so very long since they had heard a Winter Sprite speak. In fact, the various Seasonal Sprites that were about didn't really talk to one another anymore, which meant they had lost a lot of their ability to understand one another. The Fall Sprites were too used to only hearing their own language of Fall and nothing else.

The Sprite on Jasper's shoulder spoke up, and explained how those two Winter Sprites didn't really look up to much travel, and Jasper had to agree.

Jasper turned to August, who still wasn't looking very happy.

"August.." he said, a pleading note in his tone.

August stopped frowning at the Winter Sprites to look at Jasper. Jasper was giving him his most pleading, sad look. The look that made Jasper look so utterly pathetic that it instantly made August want to help him.

So with a sigh, August asked Jasper what he wanted.

"These two Winter Sprites obviously aren't up to any sort of travel, and you know how remote it is out here. It would take me some time to try and bring them to Jack's lake, and you know how warm it is there now. I'm not sure where Jack is staying at this point."

"..And..?" August prompted.

"And I need to stay here and take care of them! I have to try and lower the temperature for them, without making it too uncomfortable for my own Sprites. These are the _Winter_ Sprites, that have been missing for _centuries_. You know how close Jack Frost is with the Guardians. I think you should go to the North Pole and speak with North. He should probably know where Jack Frost is and then Jack can come here for his Sprites."

Jasper finished this with an especially desperate look, as he knew August wouldn't be thrilled at all to go to somewhere else that was cold. _Very_ cold.

August frowned at this, having missed out on Jasper's recent misadventure involving Pitch, the Winter and Spring Spirit and Mother Nature.

"Why not go to Mother Nature about this? Surely she would know more about where Frost is than North."

"It's a long story," Jasper sighed. "But I really think you should go to North. Please?"

August crossed his arms and grumbled. Not only was the cold so.. so.. _cold_ , but he didn't particularly like yetis either. Jasper was _so_ going to owe him for this.

Jasper sighed in relief as August disappeared in a bright flash that only a Sun God could top. He hoped that his friend hurried..

August wasn't particularly the most reliable when it came to doing things he didn't like, and Jasper knew that August _really_ didn't like going to cold places.

Hopefully August wouldn't get sidetracked by surfing someplace.

Jasper let his thoughts trailed off as he scooped up the two Winter Sprites in his hands and went to go take them to a smaller room, away from his precious paintings and further away from his Sprites.

He only hoped he could keep them cool enough until Frost arrived. He looked down at the female sprite worriedly as she seemed to grow more translucent before his eyes.

 _Hurry, August..._

* * *

It had been around four days since Jack and Lillian had arrived at the Pole and been given their medicine. Much to their complete annoyance, Bunny _still_ wouldn't pronounce them healthy enough to leave their beds, even though Jack's temperature seemed mostly normal now and Lillian was back to her old self, although she still had bouts of solemnness, when she thought about the disastrous meeting with Mother Nature.

But it wasn't in Lillian's nature to be sad for long, and she grown quite attached to her Seasonal painting party idea, and it had grown to not only include the Seasonals, but also the Guardians.

It would be the absolute most funnest day _ever._

If only Bunny would let them leave their beds!

Bunny however, refused to budge. He insisted that they both stay in bed until they were _completely_ well, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Even though Lillian claimed to be feeling completely fine, she hadn't stopped her random sneezing just yet, and Jack still sounded a little stuffy, so he knew their colds weren't completely gone just yet.

The only real problem was that Jack was bored.

 _Very_ bored.

And so it was an annoyed Bunny who stomped into North's workshop, completely covered in snow. He was about to start ranting when Phil burst in, arms waving around in complete panic.

He ran up to the snowy Bunny ranting in yetish and looking frantic.

Bunny looked startled at Phil's urgency, since the last time Phil had been so frantic had been when Jack and Lillian had first arrived at the Pole after being rescued. He had just checked on them, so that couldn't be it.

Maybe the last time had been all the time ago when they learned Pitch was up to something? But Pitch was sort of not _completely_ evil now..

So.. what?

Phil finally noticed that Bunny wasn't understanding him, so he grabbed Bunny's arm and dragged him off to the globe room.

Bunny was both surprised and completely embarrassed to see that August was there.

"What are you doin' here?" Bunny asked as he tried to brush some of the snow off himself. Of all the times to have a Seasonal Spirit show up! This was _so_ unGuardianlike.

August was still wearing his greek Sun God outfit, and dearly regretting that he had never added anything warmer into his wardrobe. He had has his arms crossed, looking very uncomfortable, despite the fact that the temperature was normal inside North's place.

It might have seemed normal to a non-Seasonal, but to the Summer Spirit, it was far too cold. But sadly, as it was far warmer than California at the moment..

"I need to speak to North," August said as he eyed Bunny, and then smirked. "I didn't realize you were a snow bunny off-season," he said, sounding amused.

Bunny was not happy.

"Look here, you," Bunny snarled. "You got any problems, you can take 'em straight ta Mother Nature! We have enough ta deal with on our own without yer kind comin' here and - "

August cut Bunny off in mid-rant with an eye roll.

"Believe me, the last thing I want to do is visit the _North Pole,_ " he said with a shudder at the end. "But Jasper insisted that North would know better where Jack Frost is, and - "

Now it was Bunny's turn to cut August off as he eyed the Seasonal warily.

"What do ya want with Jack?" he asked suspiciously. "Did Mother Nature send ya?"

" _Hello,_ " August said snarkily, "Were you listening? JASPER said I should come here. Fall Spirit? Ring any bells?"

Bunny glared at the Summer Spirit. He always thought August seemed a little pompous, and he normally had very little to do with the Seasonals (except for Jack and Lillian of course).

Bunny opened his mouth to retaliate back, but North wandered in.

"Phil is telling me, we have guest!" North boomed out happily as he took in the sight of Bunny and August glaring at one another. "Now, what is Summer Spirit doing in North Pole?"

August turned his attention to North.

"As I was _trying_ to say, Jasper seemed to think you know where Jack Frost is. A couple of Winter Sprites showed up at Jasper's and Jack Frost needs to get there right away to help them recover."

Ha, take _that_ Easter Bunny. Throw accusations at him, will he?

Bunny was about to respond, when he noticed the shadows behind August becoming more prominent.

"I don't think so," a voice hissed out dangerously behind August.

Bunny's smirk grew as August gave a very unmanly shriek when he turned around to find himself face to face with none other than Pitch Black.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you don't mind me tossing August in there. I figured he hadn't interacted enough with the other characters and wanted to see him interact some with the Guardians/Pitch/Jack/Lillian. I also wanted to get the ball rolling on the plot since I've been teasing you with it for long enough now. Plus now this also gives a good excuse for Jack and Lillian (since there's no way Lillian is letting Jack go alone) to interact with Jasper too. I'm trying to figure out if August has any.. um.. non-annoying qualities at this point, since he's incredibly vain and self-centered right now. He used to be a good guy so very long ago, so I'm curious if he'll have any moments where he can grow as a person. Maybe some _plot_ will happen and we'll get to see his good side!

As always, if you guys have any suggestions or anything (or just want to yell at me for my lack of updates for over a month), feel free to let me know!


	54. Chapter 47: No Time Left

**If you haven't read Ch. 46: Sprites in Need, go back and read that first! Super fast update happening (like the next day). :)**

Author's Note: Ok, so I lied. I couldn't resist updating. And I officially like August again. Thanks CrossoverJunkie for your August ideas. They helped me realize that he isn't so one-dimensional as to be completely shallow ALL the time. And I'm really glad you don't think my OCs are self-inserts or anything. I have to admit, I really do like playing with all of their emotions though. Also, don't kill me! SUPER CLIFFHANGER ALERT but I AM absolutely updating this weekend. Without a doubt. I'm also curious on what everyone feels Neva's fate should be, since I'm on the fence about it myself. :) You'll understand when you read the fic.

Now.. on to it!

Chapter Fourty-Seven: No Time Left

August tried to ignore his pounding heart as he took in the sight of _Pitch Black_ stepping out of the shadows to glare at him. Stalling a bit, August cleared his throat as he stared at Pitch a little wide-eyed.

Wasn't Pitch supposed to be.. darker? He definitely heard that Pitch Black was supposed to be more frightening too. While Pitch was definitely glaring at him in what was supposed to be a very frightening manner, he looked.. almost normal.

In fact, if Pitch Black wasn't so well known amongst all the spirits, August would've sworn this was just some guy who liked dressing in all black.

Then August's look of fright changed into a frown.

What was _Pitch Black_ doing at the home of a _Guardian?!_

While these thoughts swirled around August's mind Pitch was busy laying down the law.

"Jack is sick with a cold and there is absolutely _no way_ he is leaving his bed, let alone the North Pole at this time! Not only that, but it seems that most everywhere is too warm for him anyway, so it would be dangerous of him to leave the Pole," Pitch said in a dark tone of finality, while inadvertently sounding like a mother hen.

August just stared at Pitch in silence.

He.. couldn't be serious.

No.

Way.

August's frown deepened as he considered his options. He didn't even _want_ to be here in the first place!

It would be so easy to return back to Jasper and declare in a (mostly) forlorn tone that he had _tried_ to get Jack Frost to come with, but it was no use!

What did it matter if a couple Winter Sprites disappeared anyway? So what if they were missing for centuries? The little snowflakes were annoying anyway.. always causing problems with his Summer Sprites.

August's mind started to wander, but at the thought of his Summer Sprites, he paused. What if the situation were reversed and it was _his_ sprites that were in danger of vanishing?

He shifted a bit as an uncomfortable feeling came over him. It wasn't one he got very often, since he rarely did anything to feel guilty about. He knew he would be very distressed at the thought of his sprites disappearing.

Then he thought of Marin, one of his Summer Sprites he had spotted in California. He thought she had gone missing, since she had failed to report in about her duties in so long. He had gone to his own home, which was like Jasper's in the fact that it was magically Summer there constantly, and was where he lived with his Summer Spirits and Sprites. He hadn't seen her there, nor anywhere he looked. Not until that day in California..

He hadn't seen her since then either. In a flash of intuition, he wondered if the Winter Sprites would know about Marin, and the other Summer Sprites that had gone missing recently.

With his resolve hardened, he shot Pitch a piercing look.

Pitch, used to everyone (except Jack, Lillian and the Guardians) cowering in fear of him was taken aback.

"Well, the delicate little snowflake's going to have to get his butt out of bed," August said sharply to Pitch, "since two of his Winter Sprites have turned up at Jasper's forest. They won't make it without their Seasonal to save them."

Bunny exchanged a startled look with North at that.

* * *

Back at Jasper's, Jasper was trying desperately to keep the two Winter Sprites as cool as he could. He had made certain that none of his Fall Sprites were in the room with him, since he had to try and make it as cool as possible. The air in the room, and especially around the two Sprites had turned very cold, as cold as the last day of Fall right before Winter.

He watched helplessly as Neve cradled Neva in his arms as they sat on a small table, and wished that he could do something more for them. They didn't deserve to fade away.. Not now. Not when they were so close to being reunited with their Seasonal.

Neve held Neva and whispered to her in a voice that sounded like tinkling icicles, for her to hold on. He tried to ignore the tears prickling his eyes and the feeling that he had failed her. Before they were captured together, they had been about as close as any of the other Winter Sprites were to each other. But after they had been captured, they grew closer and began to depend on one another.

As he watched Neva become more transparent by the minute, he couldn't help but feel he was losing one of his closest friends. He had seen so many of them fade over the years.. If she faded too, he didn't think he could stand it.

He tried to remind her that their Seasonal was coming, that she would be fine, but his voice broke and he couldn't go on.

Neva opened her eyes at this and looked up at him sadly. She gently reached out and brushed a tear away from his cheek. She whispered to Neve to tell their Seasonal that she tried her best.. And that Neve shouldn't blame himself.

Neve gave a sharp intake of breath as Neva started to fade even more.. Now she was barely visible at all.

* * *

Jack sat up in bed, his room literally buried in a ton of snow as he toyed around with his staff. Bunny had threatened to take it away, but Jack had "accidentally" caused a bunch of snow to somehow fall on Bunny, and Bunny had taken the opportunity to stalk off. He had been trying fruitlessly to tell Jack to cool it with the winter powers (no pun intended) since Jack didn't want his cold to flare back up _again_ , but Jack couldn't help it!

Being cooped up in bed with pretty much nothing to do except stare at the ceiling was _boring._ He had thought about sneaking out to visit Lillian, but someone had decided that a few yetis should conveniently lounge outside his door to make sure that he behaved himself and stayed in bed.

He figured it was either an overly paranoid and motherly Phil, or an overly paranoid and motherly Pitch.

Or North.

Or Tooth.

He sighed, thinking he definitely had one too many paternal figures in his life and decided that Pitch was definitely all the paternal he needed at the moment. He stared at the ceiling in utter boredom as his mind drifted to Pitch.

It was strange how once upon a time he had considered Pitch dangerous, even an enemy. Now he considered Pitch his father figure, with Lillian more like a little sister than anything.

He grinned a little at himself, feeling childish in his boredom and relished in the feeling that without even meaning to, he had gathered himself a family.

His grin widened when he considered that the Guardians had somehow crept into their little family as well. That terrible Easter seemed so far away now, and he was practically bouncing in excitement at the thought of continuing working on his snowball shooter with Phil and North.

In fact, he was so excited that he almost missed the sound of far-off voices. He cocked his head in confusion and glanced over at the door as his name came up. Loudly.

That voice sounded vaguely familiar too.

He quietly crept out of bed and then laughed a little at himself as the snow was practically half way to the top of his bed now, and made it a little difficult to walk around his room in. Whoops!

He trudged over to his door as quietly as he could and pressed his ear to it. He couldn't hear very well from there and frowned in consternation. Then he looked around his room and spotted the window.

With an impish grin, he trudged back to the bed and grabbed up his staff. With a little effort he trudged over to the window and thanks to the snow, he didn't even have any trouble reaching up to try and push it open.

To his delight, it opened very easily. Apparently everyone was so worried about Jack sneaking out through the door to his room that they didn't even consider Jack sneaking out his window.

 _Perfect._

He called out softly to the Wind, and in no time at all he had been whisked out the window. He flew around the outside of the Workshop and made his way around to the window that he knew was usually left unlocked. He suspected that Phil had left it for him (since even though Phil spent years tossing him out, he suspected that Phil secretly liked the visits), but it didn't really matter.

Jack eased the window open and had Wind deposit him gently up into the rafters of the globe room, which to his satisfaction was where all the action was taking place.

Hmm, now _this_ was interesting. Bunny and North were off to one side, and Pitch was yelling at..

Jack blinked.

August?

Then his name came up again and he leaned forward a little to listen.

"Jack HAS to go!" August bellowed at Pitch. "Do you want them to DIE?!"

Pitch had his arms crossed, looking stern and unmovable. Jack knew that look well. It was Pitch's Adult Mode look, when he meant Business. Even Lillian's puppy dog eyes wouldn't get him to cave when he had _that_ look.

"And _I_ said that Jack would NOT be going!" Pitch hissed back. "Obviously you've been out in the sun too long if you think for ONE MINUTE - "

August didn't let Pitch continue.

"It's _HIS_ SPRITES!" August all but shrieked, his cheeks red with fury.

August had tried reasoning with Pitch, at first thinking mostly of how helping the Winter Sprites could help him out with his own missing Seasonals, but then Pitch had started arguing and that point of view had shifted suddenly to how _wrong_ it was of Pitch to not even _care_ that a part of Winter was about to fade away forever. Because August knew more than anything that a Seasonal's Sprites and Spirits were just as much apart of their season as the main Seasonal itself.

Pitch got in August's face, his scythe starting to form in his anger.

"Do you think I care?!" Pitch practically shrieked back, his voice cracking. "If it involves risking Jack's health - "

"For a COLD?!" August bellowed. "Are you INSANE?! I always heard you were a heartless bastard, and this just proves..!"

Jack frowned at that. Sure, Pitch was being his usual overprotective self, but that didn't mean he was _heartless._

"Pitch isn't heartless!" Jack spoke up indignantly, accidentally giving himself away. He flew down with the help of the Wind and glared at August. "Don't call him that!"

August and Pitch both turned to Jack as one. Pitch's look darkened as he realized Jack had somehow managed to sneak out of his room, while August's shone with a kind of savage triumph as he realized he would _win._

They both began to speak at once, their messages becoming jumbled.

" - know you're supposed to be in bed - "

" - Sprites in trouble - "

" - going anywhere - "

" - Jasper's place - "

Bunny's ears twitched in irritation for the millionth time since the incredibly loud argument had started and finally he had had enough. His ears were sensitive and he had a pounding headache and it was time to end this.

"ENOUGH!" he roared loud enough that Lillian stirred in bed and looked at her door curiously. "You two have been arguin' long enough! August, just tell Jack yer message and get it done with! Jack only has the sniffles at this point anyway," he said with a pointed look at Pitch.

Sure, he didn't want Jack's cold to relapse either, but if _lives_ were on the line...

August shot Pitch a rather smug look and then looked back at Jack. Jack Frost was one of August's least favorite spirits and usually he detested any conversations at all with the little prankster, but even Jack was still a fellow Seasonal and at some point all the Seasonals had to stick together. There were just certain things other spirits might not understand that only a Seasonal could.

As he started to speak, he wondered if Jack _would_ understand. He had never met any of his own Sprites after all. But deep down August knew that Jack wouldn't mess around if there were lives on the line.

"Two of your Winter Sprites turned up at Jasper's," August said quickly, as if fearing Pitch might try to stop him from delivering this message. "They're pretty bad off and we were afraid to try and take them here. They looked like they were about ready to fade away."

Jack started at August, his face a whirl of confusion.

 _Sprites? Fading?  
_

"..I.. have sprites..?" Jack finally said sounding as confused as he looked.

"They've been missing since before you became a spirit," August explained. "They've been gone so long that everyone assumed they'd all faded away."

At Jack's continuing confusion, he explained further.

"Sprites, as you must know, are made out of pure magic. When their lives end, they don't die.. They just fade away into nothing. Two of your sprites have come from who-knows-where, but they're fading. _Fast._ " he emphasized urgently. "You have to come to Jasper's _now._ "

He made to reach out for Jack, forgetting for a moment that traveling via fire might not be the best for a Winter Spirit.

Jack however, remembered and moved out of August's reach. He studied August's face for a moment, as if trying to detect a trick or hint of a lie, but all he saw was raw honesty in the Summer Spirit's face.

"Alright," Jack said. "I'll go."

Pitch didn't look happy about that.

"You are _not_ \- " he started, but then the pitter patter of little running footsteps could be heard and Lillian came barging in, out of breath.

"I wanna go too!" she declared.

Pitch rolled his eyes at this, while August looked agitated.

They simply didn't have the _time_ for this.

And meanwhile, back at Jasper's, the tiny sound of a Winter Sprite's pleading could be heard.

 _Neva,_ it said, the tone tinged in desperation, _hold on._

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I know. I'm evil. And I absolutely for SURE PROMISE I will update this weekend sometime. If I wasn't so back into plot now I wouldn't have left it on a cliffhanger like that. I would've just saved what I had and continued it later, but since I DO plan on updating soon, I figured that would be a good stopping point for now.

I hope you guys like it! And hopefully all my faithful reviewers haven't given up on me. As always, I am open to suggestions and things.


	55. Chapter 48: Winter's Rescue

Author's Note: Ok, so. Tuesday sort of counts as the weekend now. But hey, I'm updating somewhat soonish, so that counts for something, right?

As to my reviewers:

Capricon Aquarius FOZ: Thanks for your review! Although I don't enjoy being threatened by temporal manipulators.

CrossoverJunkie: Thanks for understanding why Pitch was being so clingy. I also explained it a bit in this chapter.

Anonymous: This guest reviewer reminded me that apparently in some author's note _forever_ ago, I mentioned doing an HP crossover with this story or else a one-shot or something. I don't remember what I said precisely, but this guest feels I should definitely write it. I have to admit, I'm _**really bad**_ at writing short stories. They always turn into giant monstrosities (If this fic is any indication..! It already looks so big when I look at the chapter list). I'll give it a go though. This is going to be put on the _way_ back burner though since my fic priorities are thus: Child of Spring, then Jamie's UFO/Ghost Hunting, _then_ any other fics I'm writing but haven't actually published yet. So I'll work on this a little and see what I come up with. I need to figure out how I'm going to mesh the two and what time period Child of Spring will be in. If I stick strictly to the CoS timeline, then we'd be in the days where Pitch was acting strange and before Jack moved in with them.. And this would be when the Guardians were giving them Christmas gifts and such, but still being distant.. _If_ I wanted them to be in the timeline when Harry Potter was in Hogwarts. If I want this to take place later after Rise of the Guardians, then I'd have to look up when Harry's kids would be in school, etc..

Or I can turn this into a total heart wrenching experience. I dunno. I'll think about it!

Anyway, thanks to the reviewers, follows and faves! I have to tell you that this chapter looks at what just about all the Spirits/Sprites are up to, so I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Fourty-Eight: Winter's Rescue

"I'll get snow globe!" North declared earnestly, ignoring Pitch's suddenly intense glare in his direction as he hurried off.

Jack saw that Pitch was very unhappy about all of this, and sighed.

"Pitch, I _have_ to go," he said plaintively. "If I can help them.. I have to. I have to at least try."

Pitch turned to Jack, his dark look lessening. It had been four days since he had gotten his children back, but he knew that he would never get the image of them alone and trapped in that cave out of his mind.

The same question kept haunting him hour after hour: _What if he hadn't found them?_

Perhaps he was being a little selfish in holding them so close and forcing them to days of bed rest, when they most likely only needed a day or two to recover, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't had time to go back to their cave home and thoroughly go through it, and it was still too warm for Jack. There wasn't much they needed to do seasonally, and with the weather getting more strange by the day, who would notice if there was a lapse in their duties for a few days anyway?

He studied the earnest look on Jack's face, and noticed the sadness in his eyes that anything connected to Winter might be dying.. or already dead.

With a sigh, and a feeling like he just _knew_ he was going to regret this, he caved.

"Very well.. But I want you to come _right back_ and so help me, if something comes up and I don't hear about it.." he trailed off as he speared Jack with his 'I'll make you do pushups until your arms fall off' look.

Jack nodded, his eyes lighting up and a smile tugging at his lips.

"I'll let you know if something comes up, don't worry." he tried to reassure Pitch, but he couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"Me t -t.. ACHOO!" Lillian sneezed, and August suddenly found himself decorated in spring flowers.

He gave a sound of disgust as he brushed the flowers off and gave Lillian a less than amused look.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "At least it didn't rain on you."

Pitch looked down at Lillian with a frown.

"You still have more than just the sniffles young lady, so you will have to stay here."

"What?!" Lillian exclaimed, with a look of deep disappointment. "But I wanna see the Winter Sprites and Jasper's place!"

August looked a little startled, but then shrugged. He found her childishness annoying, like he found Frost's pranks annoying. He didn't care why she wanted to see Jasper's, and as for the Winter Sprites? If they got there in time, there wouldn't be any problem. She'd see them soon enough.

"You'll see the Sprites soon enough," Pitch said, unknowingly mirroring August's thoughts.

He went to say more, but North came hurrying back.

"Here, I have snow globe!" he declared, thrusting it into Jack's hands. "Have safe trip!"

Not wanting to hold things up, Jack tossed the snow globe, firmly declaring their destination.

"Jasper's Forest!"

There was a bright flash as the portal formed and soon August and Jack and disappeared into it.

Lillian watched the portal disappear as she crossed her arms. It just wasn't fair that she couldn't go too! Lillian sighed as she was picked up by Pitch and held in his arms.

"Jack will be right back, right?" she asked as she rested her head down on Pitch's shoulder.

She would never admit it, since she felt she was too old for such comforts, but she really liked it when Pitch held her like a child.

"If he knows what's good for him, he will be," Pitch said rather ominously as he carried Lillian back off to her room.

* * *

In a bright flash, August and Jack appeared at the edge of Jasper's forest. August looked around impatiently, and grabbed Jack by the arm, tugging him along. He made sure he was careful about keeping his powers at bay so he didn't burn Jack, but Jack winced all the same. August was pretty warm anyway.

August hurried Jack along a familiar path he knew, and soon they reached the heart of the forest, where Jasper's tree house-type buildings were.

August pointed up at their destination.

"You need to get up there," he said a second before he released Jack and disappeared in a flash of fire.

Jack yelped and jumped away from the flame, barely avoiding getting singed. He would have stopped to grumble about it, but he knew that they didn't have any time. He called upon the Wind and soon was whisked up to one of Jasper's buildings. He landed just outside the doorway and peered inside. There were paintings _everywhere_ and August was already inside looking around in confusion.

"This is where I left - " he started, but the sound of one of the Sprites caught his attention. August didn't know it, but it was the one that loved Jasper's painting so much. Once Jasper had shooed them away, she had gone back to guard Jasper's paints from the others. She was standing on the table by Jasper's paints and she looked excited as she saw Jack. She made several excited sounds and frantically waved at them to follow her, before she flew off with her wings that looked like Fall leaves fluttering.

August grabbed hold of Jack and hauled him off after her.

"I can walk you know!" Jack said exasperatedly, as August was almost dragging him after the Sprite.

A short distance away, the Sprite stopped outside of a door and pointed inside emphatically. Taking the hint, August barged in with Jack.

August gasped at the cold and released Jack's arm in shock once they entered. Jack saw Jasper looking worriedly at something on a small table, so he hurried over.

"That's a Winter Sprite?" he asked, as he took in the form of Neve, sitting all alone on the table.

Tears as cold as ice water were trailing down his cheeks as he looked down dejectedly.

 _..She's gone.._ he said quietly, his voice sounding crisp and cool, and full of despair.

Jasper sighed sadly as he nodded.

"You better hurry and help him," Jasper said to Jack. "The other one already seems to have faded away."

Jack leaned down by the Sprite at that and blew on him gently, infusing his winter magic into it. A light breeze that would have frozen anything else blew gently on Neve, and he took on a healthier glow at that. Where he had been turning transparent himself, he suddenly became fully visible.

More tears fell down Neve's cheeks, but his eyes opened wide as a small hand wiped his tears away. He looked down in shock to see Neva had reappeared. She must have been hardly visible at all, but still there.

She was smiling sadly at Neve, sad that she made her friend cry.

 _Neve.._ she started to say, but was cut off as she was suddenly engulfed in a huge hug.

 _Don't ever do that again..!_ Neve scolded her as he hugged the life out of her. _Don't ever.._

Jack smiled down at the pair, glad he could help them out. He used his staff to ensure that the air around them was cold, and helped it snow a little on the table.

Neva laughed suddenly at the snow, looking more alive than she had in years. Neve pulled away and smiled at Jack with warmth and respect.

 _You saved her,_ he said happily to Jack.

Jack was suprised that he could understand the Sprites perfectly. He could never understand Sprites before. But he had never seen any Winter Sprites before either.

"So, uh.. Where were you guys?" Jack asked his sprites awkwardly.

He never even knew they existed! Why had no one ever told him he was supposed to have sprites?

Neva's smile faded and she exchanged a look with Neve. Would their Seasonal believe them? Would he help?

Neve cleared his throat and spoke up.

 _We were captured, back when Mistral was our Winter Spirit,_ he explained.

"Captured?" Jack echoed, looking confused.

"They were captured?" Jasper asked in surprise.

Jack looked over at him, confused.

"Uh yeah, he just said that."

Jasper shook his head.

"Only you can understand them. Just as only I can understand my own Sprites. And only August can understand his. They speak their own language of the season, which is why only their Seasonal or other Sprites can understand them."

 _We were captured by a dark spirit,_ Neve continued. _He's captured other Sprites throughout the years. Some of Summer and Fall._

 _And all of the Spring Sprites and Spirits,_ Neva interjected, her eyes sad. _He's the reason Leif went away._

Jack furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean 'went away?'"

Jasper exchanged a look with August. What in the world were they talking about?

 _Mother Nature chose a new Spring Spirit,_ Neve said with a sigh that was like the winter wind. _When she did so, Leif lost all his magic and faded away. The other Spring Sprites and Spirits have lost heart and a lot of them have faded away. There are only a few left._

 _There aren't a lot of the Winter Sprites left either,_ Neva added on. _That's why you have to go save them! We escaped from there and we can show you how to get there._

Jack looked stunned, but then shook his head.

"You guys aren't going anywhere for now. You need to recuperate."

 _We don't have time!_ Neva said as her lip trembled. _We have to go._

Jack gently scooped both of them up in his hand.

"You two almost didn't make it here," Jack said to them. "I know you want to rush right off, but we have to get you to the North Pole. After you're all better, then we can go rescue the others."

Neve nodded his understanding and wrapped a protective arm around Neva. He didn't want to risk losing her again.

"Great!" Jack said with a smile. "Now we can get going."

He looked up at August and Jasper.

"Hey, uh.. Thanks for helping them out," he said a little awkwardly. He wasn't used to having normal conversations with the Summer and Fall Spirit.

Jasper nodded, taking it all in stride. August quirked a brow at Jack.

"Do you have a snow globe to get back?" he asked with the air of someone who knew the answer anyway. They had all been in such a hurry, that even North hadn't thought of how Jack was going to get back.

"Ah.." Jack said sheepishly.

Whoops.

Jasper shook his head.

"You'll have to stay here until your Sprites are stronger. They shouldn't go out into the heat just now."

"I'm stuck here?" Jack asked, looking down at his poor Sprites.

"Looks like it," Jasper said with a shiver.

It was _cold_ in the room now, feeling more like Winter. August had his arms crossed to try and keep himself warm.

Jack sighed, thinking about what Pitch would say when he didn't have any way of contacting Pitch and letting him know he might be gone for a day or two..

He looked around the room in consternation and then his eyes lit up when they fell on August.

"Hey!" Jack said with a smile. "You can go back to the North Pole and pick up a snow globe for me, August. Then my Sprites and I can get back fast without anyone worrying."

"Gee, while I just _love_ being your messenger boy," August said in a tone dripping with sarcasm, "I have things to do. You know, Spring coming to a close and Summer starting soon."

Jack's face fell at August's less than friendly tone. He thought they were getting past their differences. August had even argued against Pitch so he could go save his Sprites! Wasn't this a bonding moment?

Jasper frowned at August. Jack and his Sprites would have to stay in this little room, and Jack would have to try and contain his winter magic here or else it would seep into the rest of his forest and ruin the perpetual Fall.

Not to mention the havoc that would cause with _his_ Sprites if it got out.

August must have noticed the annoyed look on Jasper's face since he flashed a 'sorry!' smile in his direction (that didn't make him look very sorry at all) and disappeared in a flash of flame.

August reappeared back on the same beach in California he had been in days go. He had forgotten to ask about his missing Summer Sprites, but he could always check back in with Jasper, after giving him a few days to cool off.

Despite the high temperatures, August shivered. That room had been far too cold for him, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could have stood it. He knew if he explained that to Jasper, all _might_ be forgiven.

And true, it wouldn't have been difficult for him to flame over to the North Pole and request a snow globe for Jack Frost, but he detested the way Jack had asked. In fact, Jack hadn't even asked! He just _assumed_ that August was at his beck and call, and August didn't take orders from anyone. Especially not Jack Frost. The little teenage brat.

August huffed as he let the suns rays warm him as he basked in the sun for a moment, tilting his face up to the sky and enjoying the heat. After allowing himself a few luxurious moments, he straightened up and looked around.

If he could find Marin, he might not even need any information from the Winter Sprites. He could question Marin himself and hopefully get to the bottom of things. And so, dodging around the many beachgoers, August began to search.

* * *

In a dark corner of the world just after Neve and Neva had made their escape, a certain dark spirit was throwing a fit. He couldn't _believe_ that two of the Winter Sprites had escaped! He seethed for a moment, before an evil grin crossed his face.

All the Sprites and Spirits he had were pretty ragged, since his lair wasn't an ideal place for any of the poor seasonal beings. With that thought in mind, he released one of the Summer Spirits, clutching her by the arm.

He shook her harshly before directing her gaze back to the cages, where her fellow Sprites and Spirits were located.

"Obey me or I'll make certain that they fade," he hissed in a tone worthy of an evil Pitch.

Tears pricked the Spirit's eyes as she wiped her orangish blond hair out of her face.

"..P..please.." she whimpered. "Don't hurt them.."

The dark spirit tightened his grip on her arm and she winced.

"Then listen very carefully, you worthless Spirit," the dark spirit said in a dangerous tone as he began to outline his wishes.

The Summer Spirit's eyes widened.

"I can't change the climate - " she began, but the dark spirit cut her off.

"DO IT!" he roared as he shoved the Spirit away from him.

She tripped and fell to the ground with a cry. She sat up trembling, as she looked over to see the Summer Sprites all looking at her with despair. The dark spirit had already captured dozens of the Summer Sprites, and a couple of the Summer Spirits, including herself.

As she got to her feet shakily, she could hear the Summer Sprites crying out to her.

 _Marin, don't listen to him!_ they called out. _We only listen to our Seasonal!_

Marin looked over at them, her ocean blue eyes reflecting her sadness. Unlike August, her attire was more modern as she wore a light summer dress with sandals, perfect for walking along the beach on. Like most of the other Summer Sprites and Spirits, her outfit reflected Summer. However, instead of red, orange and gold, her outfit matched her eyes in shades of oceany blue.

"Don't you see?" she said to them, her voice low and tinged with defeat. "I have to."

As she disappeared in a flash, she tried to ignore the calls of the Sprites and the feeling that she was betraying August.

He would understand, she told herself. She didn't have any choice.

The dark spirit watched her vanish with satisfaction. Those little Winter Sprites didn't stand a chance. They'd both fade away before they could reach that pesky Jack Frost.

He turned his attention back to his mirror as he studied his next target. In the mirror Lillian was surrounded by a small mound of tissues as she sat up in bed with her lap desk on her lap, working on something.

The spirit grinned as he saw that she was still miserable with a cold. Good! But then his grin faded as he realized she'd be bedridden and difficult to reach. He could always wait for her to completely recover, but waiting was _such_ a bore.

If he wanted to lure her away from whatever little hidey hole she was in, he'd need a plan.

* * *

Back at the Pole, Pitch had tucked Lillian back into bed and proceeded to pace back and forth in the globe room, glancing at Jack's blue light on the globe every once in awhile as if to reassure himself that Jack was safe.

Bunny wanted to point out that the blue light only meant that Jack believed and it wouldn't indicate if Jack was in any danger, but restrained himself. The last thing he really wanted to do was make an anxious Pitch even more anxious.

He had expected that Jack might be gone for an hour or two, but it wouldn't take him very long at all. Now it was nearing hour three and he was starting to get a little worried.

Actually, he'd started worrying after half an hour, but who was counting?

Jack should have been back by now! What was taking him so long? North had given Jack a snow globe -

Pitch suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and whirled to face North, who was still standing with Bunny and had been watching Pitch pace around as if watching a reality show. They were worried about Jack too, but Pitch was doing enough worrying for all of them.

"You forgot to give him another snow globe to get back!" Pitch snarled at North. "The world is turning into one big melting pot and now Jack will have to fly in it!"

North patted his pockets and felt the extra snow globe as he looked sheepishly at Pitch.

"Oops!" he said, trying not to sound too guilty. "We were in such a rush, I forgot."

Pitch glared at North as he gave one of those nonsensical parental threats.

"I'll forget you in a minute!"

Bunny blinked at Pitch.

 _What?_

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, as to the end: Remember when you were a kid and you'd be all like "But Mooom..!" and your mom would be like "You clean your room right now or I'll (insert threat) you in a minute!"

But sometimes those threats wouldn't make any sense. Pitch kinda did that to North there. Sorry, he has a permanent case of being a worried parent now. :) So do you think August will have a guilt attack and help Jack out after all? Or will Jasper devise a way to get word to North's so they can come get Jack and the Winter Sprites out of his precious forest?

As always, let me know what you think and of any ideas and things you have!

 **Edit:** I wanted to add on that I hope you weren't confused by the part with the dark spirit. I backtracked a little with him. In case you forgot, Marin first appeared when Jack and Lillian were tossed into the cave by Mother Nature (in the interlude Summer's Ire & Trapped), and I wanted to give you guys another glimpse of her and explain why she had disappeared but was spotted by August that day.


	56. Chapter 49: Stuck

Author's Note: This chapter is a bit of a filler chapter. Sorry more interesting things aren't happening, but I gave you a look at most of the Spirits again. Next chapter is going to include some of the Burgess kids again since with all this crazy weather going on Jamie's just gotta start looking into things. Also, I got the plot rolling a little teeny bit as the dark spirit continues his plotting. And speaking of plot, I finally reminded myself on what I wanted to do with the plot in the first place, other than breaking the Weather Channel. (I love the reviewer who originally wrote that, btw. Cracked me up!) It's so been done before, but I am SO tempted to do it. It involves things like, "What if THIS happened instead of THIS. How would the story change?" and things.

If you have any input for further evillness that the dark spirit can kept up to, I'm open to suggestions. I also have a name for him, I just haven't had the opportunity for him to introduce himself or someone to call him by name. It'll happen eventually.

On to reviews!

I missed DOCTORSINTHETARDIS the chapter before last and he or she reviewed again, so thanks for your review. :)

Anonymous: I was referring to you, as you are currently the only guest under Anonymous. I might delve into the crossover/potential oneshot this weekend as I've been thinking about it a lot and I really want to do it. I just need to figure out what year I want them to wander into and how they could help, or maybe it'll be fluffy.. I dunno!

CrossoverJunkie, thanks for your ideas. I somewhat forgot about Mother Nature, since I was so out of touch with plot for what felt like forever. I'm trying to have everything match up, so I have been trying to remember when things happened and going back to previous chapters to look and reference things. For instance, Marin. I couldn't remember if I mentioned her eye color or anything about her so I had to look her up for the last chapter. Anyway, that was a good idea about Pitch too, since I don't think anyone really thinks about all the good things he's done and the fighting he's seen, so of course it would effect him. And I do think a Tea Time with Mother Nature is coming up soon. :P

I also want to thank the follows and faves I've gotten! Now on with the story!

Chapter Fourty-Nine: Stuck

Jack was still holding his sprites, as if in preparation on going somewhere.

"So.. there really isn't anything you can do?" Jack asked a little desperately. He did  
 _not_ want to have to face a worried Pitch again.

Jasper sighed in exasperation.

"I can teleport myself to the North Pole just fine," he said as Jack's eyes lit up.

"That's great!" Jack exclaimed. "So you can take us all there!"

" _But,_ " Jasper continued pointedly, "I don't know where North's home is. We could wind up _anywhere_ , and even if it would be in the cold, your sprites aren't up for a long journey. It might do more harm than good. I could try to go by myself to get word that everything is fine, but then _I_ would be stuck wandering around in the cold."

Jack's face fell at that.

"So we're stuck here for now," Jack said as he looked down at his sprites.  
They had looked so happy at the prospect of going to North's so soon, but now they looked a little sad again. At least they weren't transparent anymore though.

"Looks like it," Jasper said, sounding disappointed as well. "You'll have to stay in this room, since it's full of your winter magic now. I don't think I need to tell you that it would be disastrous if you made it snow anywhere else."

Jack looked a little hurt at the insinuation that he'd wreck Jasper's forest, but before he could say anything about it, Jasper had hurried out of the room.

"Looks like its just us for now," Jack said to his sprites. He carried them back over to the table and gently set them down on it.

Neve looked up at Jack and suddenly it registered where Jack wanted them to go.

 _Why do you want us go to the North Pole? Why not go to the Ice Castle?_ he asked Jack curiously.

Jack, for his part, looked completely confused.

"Ice Castle?" he asked, his tone indicating he had no clue what Neve was talking about.

 _It was Mistral's Ice Castle before yours. All the Winter Seasonals have used the Ice Castle at some time,_ Neva said to Jack.

Jack gave them both a startled look at that.

"But I don't have a castle! And I've never seen an ice castle anywhere!"

The two sprites exchanged a surprised look at that.

 _Didn't.. the other Seasonals tell you?_ Neva asked hesitantly _._ _Or Mother Nature?_

Jack gave a rather Pitch-like scowl at that.

"They don't tell me anything," Jack said. "Jasper only let me come here because he found you guys. Otherwise we'd probably be on our own right now trying to figure out how to get you somewhere cold."

Neva looked deeply disappointed at that. She was sitting on the table and brought her knees up to her chest, while Neve wrapped a protective arm around her, looking a little worried as if she might start fading again.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked, noticing that they were looking rather gloomy again.

Neve was the one who spoke up, his voice soft, yet clear.

 _Before Mistral came along, the Seasonals all used to be good friends,_ Neve explained. _They were more than Spirits doing their job, they were like family. But ever since Mistral, they had grown distrustful of the Winter Spirit and grew to despise the season._

"Yeah," Jack said gloomily. "Jasper and August seem friendly to each other, but I know they don't like me and Lillian much. I doubt the Seasonals will ever be close like that. And Lillian and I aren't really on speaking terms with Mother Nature at the moment."

Neve shook his head at the information, but then remembered the topic at hand.

 _Anyway,_ he continued, _all the Seasonals have a magical place they call their own. Jasper has his forest, while August has somewhere near Greece, I think._

 _I think it's a small island_ , Neva piped up. _The Spring Sprites kept talking about their home to us, when we were captured. There's a secret entrance in a hillside somewhere and it leads to a magical place filled with Spring. I guess it has a lot of spring flowers. They miss it very dearly._

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jack said, his eyes going wide. "I.. I have a _home?!_ And there's SPRING sprites too?!"

 _..All the Seasonals have their own Sprites._ Neve said, rather deadpan. _Someone should have informed you and the Spring Spirit of them. And of your homes. Where have you been living all this time?_ Neve asked in disbelief. _The North Pole?_

"Ah.." Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "That's sort of a long story.."

 _Since we need to recuperate, we have the time._ Neve said seriously.

"Well, it all started this one spring day in '68.." Jack said, going back to the beginning of the story, to tell his Sprites. They deserved to know the whole truth about everything. 

* * *

The dark spirit paced back and forth as he considered how to lure that pesky Spring Child out of her safe little cocoon. The only problem was that she was probably tucked away somewhere where it would be difficult for news to reach her. He studied the mirror, but it only ever showed her in a bed!

He grew very irritated, since from that picture alone, he couldn't figure out where she was. Every once in awhile that blasted Easter Bunny would show up to check in on her, but he hadn't seen much at all.

If he wanted some tidbit of news.. just _something_ that would draw her attention to the outside, it would have to be _big._ Really big.

While he loved being able to mess with the climate like he had been, he wanted _more._ So much more.

As he paced back and forth, his boot heels clicked on the floor of his lair. He was actually not particularly tall for a spirit, but what he lacked in height he more than made up in strength. His style of dress tended to mirror Pitch's somewhat, as he wore all black and seemed to be stuck in an age where cloaks were all the rage and men wore boots and big belt buckles.

He swept his dark hair away from his face. If it wasn't for the immense anger and insanity lurking in the dark depths of his eyes, he might be considered rather handsome. He paused in his pacing to look at the mirror again and then threw the Spring Sprites a look as if it were all their fault that he couldn't get at their Seasonal.

He muttered to himself as he resumed his pacing. Then he paused to stare back at the remaining Spring Sprites and Spirits.

An evil grin began to form as an idea came to him and he walked over to the cages where the Spring Spirits and Sprites were held.

"My dear Sprites," he said in a voice dripping with sweetness that hid the venom underneath, "I believe I do have a use for you after all."

The poor Sprites cowered at the back of their cages as they stared up at the dark spirit in terror. Good things did not happen when _he_ sent his captured Sprites out. And with the weather so crazy and unpredictable, it would be very dangerous for the Spring Sprites especially, since they needed the delicateness of Spring to thrive, and while it was still technically their season, the temperatures did not indicate that at all.

The Summer and Fall Sprites had been sent out hand in hand to mess with the temperatures, and so if it wasn't too hot somewhere, then it was far too cold.

 _No,_ they cried. _No.._

* * *

Lillian stared down at her notebook, which was filled with ideas for her book but not a lot of information. She had already given up on leaving out her own information at the moment and had pretty much worked out how the Spring chapter was going to look. She wanted to work on Winter, but she was kind of hoping to have more information about August and Jasper that might tie into Jack's chapter, so she had been putting his off for the moment.

With a sigh, she tossed her notebook and lap desk aside and fell back against her pillows with a flump. She didn't know why, but ever since Pitch had put her back to bed and Jack had run off to go save his Sprites, she kept getting this weird feeling like she was being watched.

She also felt.. _wrong_.

It wasn't her cold or sneezing, she was used to that, unfortunately. But deep down, where that ball of Spring magic was, she felt that something was off.

She squirmed around on the bed as she tried to ignore it, but it was like having an itch you couldn't scratch and she didn't know how to take her mind off of it.

She had tried explaining to Bunny about it, the last time he checked on her, but Bunny had brushed aside her concerns with a distracted air and told her to make sure she was resting properly and everything would be fine.

And what was _really_ driving her crazy, was that no matter who visited her, they all kept telling her to not worry about Jack and that he'd be back soon, but that had been _forever_ ago, and now she was getting really worried about him too.

She stared up at the ceiling and then glanced over at her right wrist, which was still missing her bracelet. She discovered she could still use her powers without it, but it was so hard. She couldn't even summon her Giant Flower of Doom to travel.

 _I wish I knew if Jack was alright,_ Lillian thought to herself. _And I wish someone would listen to me.. Jack always listened to me. He'd believe me that something was wrong._

* * *

Sandy was out and about on the other side of the world busy delivering dreams when Lillian's wish hit him. He frowned as he wondered where in the world Jack was. The last thing he knew was that everyone was at the North Pole.

His worry only grew when the Northern Lights lit up the sky. Sending off the last of his dreams, he formed his sand plane and took off for the Pole. 

* * *

"Jack Frost is missing," North said to all the Guardians as they had gathered. "August Bay came to Pole to tell him that his missing Winter Sprites are in trouble, and he left for Jasper's forest and has not returned. It has been long time, he should have come back by now."

The Guardians, as one, all looked over at Pitch Black, who was over by the globe practically wearing a hole in the floor.

Golden sand formed above Sandy's head as a picture of North throwing a snow globe formed.

"Sandy's right," Tooth spoke up. "We could use a snow globe to check it out."

"Ah," North said uneasily. "But we do not interfere in Seasonal affairs. We Guardians have never been to a Seasonal home (beside Jack Frost's lake). Is up to Mother Nature to look after such things."

"..But.." Tooth said hesitantly.

Pitch grumbled darkly at the mention of Mother Nature. It would certainly be a long time before he got over _that_ fiasco.

A golden image of Pitch formed over Sandy's head and he gestured at Pitch emphatically, indicating his view on the subject of Mother Nature.

"Maybe you could talk to her," Tooth said suddenly to Sandy, brightening.

Sandy looked thoughtful at this. He really thought that Pitch should be the one to go, so that he could sort things out, but..

He glanced over at Pitch, who seemed to be pretending he couldn't hear their little Guardian meeting nor that he was a part of it whatsoever.

Then Sandy nodded to himself. He gave the Guardians all a thumbs up and walked over to Pitch.

Golden images formed over his head as he proposed his idea to Pitch.

Pitch didn't look at all amused at Sandy's idea.

"Surely you can't be serious," he snapped. 

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, I admit it. I have a dilemma. Should Jasper come up with something, or should Mother Nature peek in and see what's going on with Jack? I'm not sure she'd even want to at this point, since I'm sure she thinks Jack wouldn't want anything do with her. If you guys have thoughts on this, I'd like to know!

As for this chapter, I know it's not terribly action packed but it does get the ball rolling a little. I promise the next one will be more interesting and longer. I'll be working on it this weekend and probably throughout the week. I won't say what day I hope to post it, since that never works out for me. After the next Child of Spring chapter, I might come out with a Jamie chapter for the UFO/Ghost Hunting fic. Or I migth sneak one in before Child of Spring. Depends on what I'm up to. :P


	57. Interlude 8: HP & The Child of Spring

Author's Note: Ugh, the guilt! Right after my last Child of Spring post, I started the Harry Potter crossover, and then it kind of took on a life of its own. My next update will most _definitely_ be a Child of Spring post, I promise. Anyway, this post is the first chapter of the Harry Potter Crossover I've been promising. I thought I'd post it here as an interlude. It'll be like the Jamie fic and have its own page once I churn out the second chapter.

The beginning might be a little strange, since it started off as a oneshot and then I have no idea what happened. It was _supposed_ to be Lillian finding Harry Potter one day, and then it was going to be her seeing him at some point every year, seeing the strange things that went on at Privet Drive. She would eventually mention this to Jack, and he would know all about Hogwarts, of course.. and then go show it to her, and _magical things_ would ensue. This clearly did not happen, since Book 2 jumped out at me. I wanted Lillian to experience some of the Harry Potter danger without it being _too_ angsty.

If you're wondering about the timeline of this little crossover in relation to Child of Spring, it goes like this. According to the wonderful world of Google, Harry's second year of Hogwarts is in 1992, which would firmly put Lillian somewhere in the Through the Years chapters, which I conveniently skipped time through. So it's _possible_ that all this could have happened, and it just never got mentioned.. But I would still consider this AU for Child of Spring and most definitely AU for Harry Potter. Also, I apologize for my paraphrasing of the book dialogue. I'm going with the assumption that you all have read the books.

Since this isn't a Child of Spring chapter, I'll cover reviews in the next actual chapter of the fic. Sorry if this large update disappoints you.. I know I wrote a lot more than I usually do. I'll make the next one nice and long, promise.

Also, if you have any plot suggestions for this crossover, I'm all ears. :)

Interlude 8: Harry Potter & The Child of Spring

The first time Lillian had seen Harry Potter, had been when he was eight years old. It was just past mid-spring, and the weather was fine. The sky was full of sunshine with only a hint of clouds, and Lillian was wandering along Privet Drive, doing her best to beautify the neighborhood with her lovely Spring flowers.

She walked carefully along the edge of the grass near the sidewalk and looked back to see the effect she was having. In a long neat row, grew her spring flowers in all shapes and sizes, the colors a riot of random colors.

She smiled a little as she looked at it. It suited the neighborhood. It was somewhat uniform, but still random enough to give it that particular flair. She was careful to walk along the edge near the sidewalk instead of near the houses, since she knew some people liked planting flowers and things and she knew they didn't want anything interfering with their precious flower beds.

She had started at the other end of Privet Drive, and was glad that she would be done soon. She didn't really like this part of Little Whinging, with all its sameness and perfection. Life wasn't perfect, she reasoned, so why pretend it was? Perhaps it was for some sort of control, but she wasn't sure. She hadn't noticed much of anyone as she went about her business. It was the middle of the day on a Sunday. She had seen the occasional person watering said flower garden, but that was about it. Most people were either off doing their own things or inside. Some children were playing in their backyards, but most were probably off at the park.

That was why Lillian paused at Number Four, Privet Drive. She spotted a mop of dark hair moving near the house. She looked more closely and noticed it was a small boy drowning in clothes far too large for him. They looked pretty raggedy, and she could see that he had to roll the sleeves up several times so he could stick his hands out from them to tend to the flower garden.

Lillian hopped off from the grass to the front walk carefully with practiced ease and walked up it to get a closer look at this boy. Lillian tilted her head, wondering if she should write to Santa and suggest some new clothes for this kid. She watched him weed for a little bit, finding it a little odd that a kid so young would be out in the sun weeding a flower bed all by himself.

She shrugged to herself. Who knows, maybe the kid likes gardening. Finding his task pretty boring, she walked back down the walk and hopped back to where she had left off with her flowers.

She continued walking down the rest of Privet Drive and soon her Giant Flower of Doom was eating her as she took off without a backward glance. If little Harry Potter had looked up from his task, he might have spotted Lillian disappearing via her Giant Flower of Doom, but he was hard at work and only had eyes for weeds.

* * *

It was three years later before she saw Harry Potter again. She had been bored and not supposed to spread Spring now, since it was the end of July and soon to be the beginning of September. But she had been bored, and Jack was off in cold places and Pitch was..

She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. Pitch was.. he was _fine._ So what if he was a little distant? So what if he yelled at her more.. So what if she felt forgotten and a little unloved sometimes.

She thought of her bedroom, which she had started to leave messier and messier when she was in high school, and how Pitch never yelled at her like he would have done. She remembered when he would scold her to clean her plate, and how he would read to her at night and how _right_ it had all seemed. She had a family.

Now she spent more time out of her home than in it, and she stayed out as late as she could before Sandy would catch her. She would always wake up at Jack's lake, and sneak back inside. Pitch had caught her a couple times, but mostly he didn't have much to say about her long absences. Sometimes Lillian almost wished Pitch would scold her, because that meant that he still _cared._

Lillian had been walking along the sidewalk, her gaze down on the cracks as she walked around in her old mended pink dress. She realized the sidewalk had become blurry and she stopped to wipe her tears.

"Why are you crying?" a quiet voice asked her.

Lillian gave a startled yelp and almost jumped backwards at that. Her head snapped up and gray eyes locked onto emerald green. She saw a boy that was physically several years older than her, wearing baggy clothes that were much too big on him and was he dragging along a trunk and carrying an _owl_ in a _cage?_

Lillian tried not to stare as she wiped more of her tears away and wondered how this boy could see her. No person outside of Halloween had ever seen her. She didn't want to admit it, but she was kind of freaking out.

"..Um.. um.. n-no reason," she said shyly. "Who are you?"

Harry gave her an odd look then, but didn't comment on it.

"Harry Potter," he finally admitted. "I live a few houses down the street. Where do you live?"

"Um.." Lillian said, stalling for him. "..A few blocks away.."

It was a pretty feeble lie, but the kid seemed to buy it. Lillian really wanted use her Giant Flower of Doom to get away, but she didn't want to scare this boy. What was going on?!

"Say, um.. Do you believe in.. spirits? Like.. The Spirit of Spring?" she asked Harry cautiously.

"Spirit?" Harry gave her an incredulous look, as no child on _Privet Drive_ of all places would dare to suggest such a thing.

"Nevermind," Lillian said hastily.

Now this was _really_ freaking her out. He didn't know about the Spirit of Spring and he could still see her?

She looked at Harry curiously and finally had to ask.

"Why do you have an owl in a cage?" she asked him.

"Er," Harry said, fumbling for an answer. He finally settled on a little bit of the truth. "I got her as a birthday present. I had to get supplies for this boarding school I'm going to and a friend bought her for me."

That brought Lillian's attention to Harry's attire. They sort of looked like clothes that someone who didn't want them anymore had thrown away. But the trunk he was dragging along laboriously looked pretty nice and the owl was one of the prettiest ones she'd ever seen.

"Aren't your parents going to help you take that stuff home?" she finally asked.

Harry looked distinctly uncomfortable and was heartily wishing he'd ignored the sad crying girl and been on his way. He forgot that children were always endlessly curious and apparently she'd latched onto him for her endless fountain of questions.

He mentally kicked himself for wandering around in public with an _owl_ but all Hagrid had done was see to it that he got on the train back to the Dursley's, assuming that Harry's Aunt and Uncle would pick him up from the station. What Hagrid had failed to realize was that while Harry's Aunt and Uncle were most likely on their way home or already there, they would have no clue Harry would be at the station needing a ride and he hadn't any pocket money for the pay phone.

Harry wasn't entirely certain that they would have picked him up anyway if he did. Harry decided a little distraction with the truth would be in order. He could tell her that much and then be on his way.

"They're dead," he said suddenly and Lillian's eyes widened at that. "My Aunt and Uncle didn't know what time to expect me back, and I didn't have any pocket money for a phone to call them."

Lillian tilted her head as she looked at him, taking in the facts. Something seemed a little off about this picture, but then she shrugged. Maybe this was a normal thing for him?

She made to move aside as he trudged past her.

"Hey," she called out to him. "Do you want some help?"

Harry gave her a look of utter disbelief, as she looked barely able to lift the owl's cage, let alone one end of the trunk. Finally, he shook his head.

"I'm almost home," he told her.

Lillian watched him for a minute as he continued trudging on, then mentally shrugged to herself. She had enough weirdness in her life. She soon reached the end of Privet Drive and her Giant Flower of Doom ate her.

Maybe she'd go see where Jack was and what he was up to.

* * *

The next year, Lillian turned up at Privet Drive around the same time, just to see if she'd run into that Harry kid again and if he was lugging around an owl. Unfortunately, she had misjudged the time difference and it was pretty late at night. Still, she thought it couldn't hurt to take a peek and see if anything was going on.

So she walked down Privet Drive, and was thankful that either Sandy had already been through here or else hadn't been here yet, as she didn't see any sign of him. Just as she was nearing Number 4, she paused as she heard what sounded like a car. She looked up and down the street but didn't spot one. Finding this a little strange she looked around until a flash of something caught her eye.

Then she looked up and her jaw dropped. There was a _car_ flying in _midair!_

She wondered how on earth that could be possible, when some of the conversation drifted down to her. It was night after all, and voices carried.

"..Locked me up and.. can't.. expelled..!" a young boy's voice exclaimed. He sounded familiar to Lillian.

"Stop gibbering," a second voice said, apparently from the car. "..you out.."

"But..! ..either..!" the first boy's voice said, trying to be quiet, and sounding very nervous.

"You forgot.. with me.." the second boy's voice said with a chuckle.

There was a little more conversation and then Lillian watched with interest as a rope was tied around the bars that were in front of the window.

Wait..

Bars in front of the window?!

Lillian's eyes went wide again as she took it in. No way. Who put bars on a kid's window?! That was _not_ ok.

She frowned as she watched them shove a very familiar looking trunk out the window and into the car. Then she heard a loud screech and the boy in the room cried out in dismay.

"I've forgotten Hedwig!"

This was followed by a very loud bellow.

"..Ruddy owl..!"

There was soon a loud hammering noise and a lot of shouting. The boy in the room had handed a snowy owl's cage out to the boys in the car and was attempting to climb out himself when something seemed to be stopping him.

"Get off!" the boy, Harry, Lillian had realized, cried out.

"Petunia!" the man bellowed at the top of his lungs, "HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

Lillian watched as the boys in the car had a tug-of-war with the man over Harry. Finally the boys gave one gigantic tug and the man that had tried pulling poor Harry's leg off, lost his grip and Harry was tugged into the car, safe and sound.

As the car started to speed off, Lillian had a split second to make up her mind. Taking a deep breath, she had her Giant Flower of Doom gobble her up. It magically sprouted from the rear bumper of the car and spit her out.

With a loud thump, she landed right on the roof of the car, just in time to hear Harry call out.

"See you next summer!" he said cheekily to his Uncle, who was staring dumbfounded out the window as Petunia and Dudley stared out at the flying car as well.

"What was that noise?" Ron asked after they all heard the loud thump.

"Did we hit a bird?" Harry asked nervously as he got settled. "And let Hedwig out, she's been stuck in there for ages," he added on.

Ron quickly picked the lock on the cage and soon Hedwig was soaring alongside the car, looking like a ghost in the dark.

Lillian was laying on her back on the car, having had the wind knocked out of her and was extremely grateful that she hadn't been thrown clear over it, as she had no way to land and would most definitely have gone splat.

She turned her head and saw the amber eyes of the owl watching her. Lillian tried to give the owl a reassuring sort of smile, but it came out more as a grimace as she tried to catch her breath.

After a few long moments, she managed to do so and gingerly sat up. She could hear Harry inside the car, explaining something about a house elf (whatever that was) to the other boys inside.

Soon they could be heard speculating as to who the elf had belonged to. Lillian sat quietly and listened in on their conversation as she wondered where they were going. She also wondered how a flying car could exist, but Pitch could have easily explained that to her. Or even Jack. Howgwarts and wizards weren't nearly as hidden as they liked to believe.

* * *

The sky was becoming light when the car finally started to descend and Lillian suddenly realized she'd have to move or risk being discovered by Harry. She was pretty sure that the other boys wouldn't see her, but she couldn't be certain. She thought about that, and then shrugged to herself. So what if she was seen?

She was the Spring Spirit, and it didn't really matter if kids could see her, right? It's not like the adults could see her.

She would soon come to realize how very wrong she was.

So she decided to keep her seat as the car touched down and the boys all clambered out, congratulating themselves on getting away with this. One of the twins was telling Harry about their brilliant plan, and Lillian had to stifle a giggle at that.

However, that plan was soon stamped on as Mrs. Weasley emerged from the house and began shouting herself hoarse at the boys. She paused to tell Harry kindly that she didn't blame him when a flash of movement caught her eye.

She hastily drew her wand out of her apron pocket and turned toward the family car, only to stare dumbfounded at a little girl that appeared to be sitting on it.

"Who are you?" she asked the child in amazement.

Lillian, who had been trying very hard not to laugh at the boys' predicament, soon found herself in a predicament of her own. She'd never had an _adult_ that could see her.

"Erm.." Lillian said hesitantly, and then looked at them all a little nervously as all the boys turned to stare at her.

"Hey!" Harry said suddenly. "I've seen you before! You were on Privet Drive last year when I was coming home from Diagon Alley."

Mrs. Weasley eyed the girl suspiciously.

"Were you really?" she asked, as though expecting the girl to jump up and start cursing everyone.

Deciding the cat was out of the bag, Lillian nodded and climbed down from the car.

"I'm Lillian, the Spirit of Spring." she said softly.

Harry looked at Ron, who was exchanging confused looks with Fred and George. The spirit of what?

"Really," Mrs. Weasley said evenly. "Tell me then, how did you come be on top of our car?"

"Uh.." Lillian said hesitantly. "I saw it flying and it went to Harry's house. I decided to tag along and I used my powers to get up onto the roof."

Mrs. Weasley looked around at her children and Harry and gestured to them.

"Go on inside and have some breakfast," she told them.

Lillian looked a little nervous.

"Well.. uh.. I guess I'll just be going then," she said to Mrs. Weasley.

Even if she was very curious about the flying car and how it could possibly be flying, and why a family who lived in a _really_ weird house would own one, she knew it wouldn't be worth it if it would cause a lot of problems.

Besides, she could always pretend to go away and then pop back later to check things out. Maybe she could convince Jack to come along. He might be interested in seeing this family and the flying car too.

Mrs. Weasley continued to eye the girl.

"Are you a muggle?" she asked the girl suddenly.

"Uh.." Lillian said, looking completely lost.

"I thought so," Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh. "Well, you might as well come in for now. I'll have Arthur deal with you, he should be home any moment. Come have some breakfast at any rate."

Lillian didn't think that would be such a great idea, especially when this woman had declared that some guy named Arthur would 'deal' with her. She didn't want to be 'dealt' with, and she was sure that it wouldn't be pleasant.

She wondered what would happen if she disappeared on the spot. She didn't want to freak anyone out, but this lady was kind of scaring her a little.

Upon seeing Lillian's hesitation, Mrs. Weasley gestured at her to get moving.

Wishing she had just left the flying car alone, Lillian reluctantly went inside. As she looked around, her jaw dropped.

She was led into what was the kitchen, but not before glimpsing a bookcase with titles such as "One Minute Feasts - It's Magic!"

She also saw the weirdest clock she had ever seen, that had only one hand and things on it like, "You're late!" or "Time to Feed the Chickens."

She furrowed her brow at it. Was it a joke clock? She had seen one once that had all the numbers at the bottom in a big jumble as if they had fallen. Maybe it was something like that.

She saw the table that everyone was sitting at and took a seat next to Harry. Pretty much everyone at the table kept shooting her curious looks and Lillian found herself placing her hands in her lap and fiddling around with her fingers nervously.

Harry seemed to notice how nervous she was and nudged her a little in a friendly sort of way.

"It's alright," he told her quietly.

Lillian flashed him a somewhat grateful smile as Ron frowned at her.

"Why did you say you were some Spring Spirit? Did you think you were being funny?"

Fred and George glanced at one another. That was _their_ department.

"I am the Spirit of Spring," Lillian mumbled, looking embarrassed. "Only people who believe in me can usually see me though.. I don't know why you all can. And only kids usually believe in such things. I never had an adult see me.. Unless it was on Halloween."

"Halloween?" Harry asked, ever curious.

"It's a time when people believe in all sorts of things," Lillian explained down to her hands, feeling embarrassed to have so many people staring at her. "So mostly everyone can see me."

"If you are a Spring.. whatever," Ron said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Why don't you prove it?"

Lillian looked up at that with a frown at Ron. She didn't really like his tone. He sounded like he didn't believe her, and the way he said it.. It was sort of like a dare. A double dog dare!

And you _never_ started off on a double dog dare. Didn't he know anything?

They were interrupted when Mrs. Weasley started loading up their plates with food. Lillian's stomach interrupted her by rumbling, and she realized that she was _starving._

As they all began eating, the backdoor opened and in walked a man who looked pretty tired. He had red hair like all the rest of the family, although he was balding.

"Nine raids," he said wearily as he sat down in his chair at the table. "And Mundungus Fletcher tried to curse me. You wouldn't believe the things our kind have taken to enchanting lately - "

"Like cars, for instance?" Molly interrupted him, her eyes flashing.

"Er.." Arthur said.

"Imagine a man buying a car saying he was interested in how worked, when really he was taking it apart and enchanting it to fly!" Molly shouted.

"I think that you'll find he was well within his rights," Arthur explained, "As long as he wasn't intending to fly - "

"Our sons flew the car you weren't intending to fly to Surrey and back! They brought Harry Potter and a little muggle girl tagged along!"

Lillian suddenly found a very startled look being thrown her way.

"Did they really?" Aurthur asked in an almost eager tone. "How did it go?"

At a sharp look from his wife however, he hastily coughed and tried to sound stern.

"That was very wrong boys, very wrong indeed."

Lillian giggled at this and covered her mouth. It sounded a little like how Pitch used to scold Jack when he wasn't really upset with him, but had to scold him anyway, since Jack wasn't supposed to use his powers in Pitch's lair.

At the sound of Lillian's giggle, Arthur's attention was drawn back to her.

"So.. a muggle?" he asked Molly.

Molly nodded gravely.

"Just think of the Statute of Secrecy!" Molly exclaimed. "What are we going to do, Arthur? She's been missing all night, her parents must be frantic."

Lillian's smile was wiped off her face at the mention of that, and she grew solemn.

"Oh, I don't think anyone's noticed I'm gone yet," she said. She didn't mention anything about a Statute of Secrecy, since she had no idea what it was. "And I can get myself home whenever I want to."

Molly shot Lillian a frustrated look and hissed at Arthur.

"She keeps insisting that she's some Spring Spirit. Obviously it's nonsense. I'm sure it's something she picked up from listening to all the boys talk on the way home."

Arthur shook his head at that and looked at Lillian.

"Where are you from, hm?" he said in what he thought was a cheerful tone of voice, but Lillian could hear the worry in the tone.

"The United States of America," Lillian said as though it were obvious. She didn't have a British accent, after all.

Harry frowned at that.

"You told me you lived a couple blocks away from me," he reminded her.

Lillian shot him a sheepish grin at that.

"Whoops?" she offered.

Harry shook his head at her.

"Near a town called Burgess," she finished telling Arthur. "But like I said, I can get my own way home."

"Of course you can," he said cheerfully to her. "Since you are a Spirit, after all. Is that right?"

"Yeah!" Lillian smiled at him, not noticing that he was discreetly drawing out a stick. "I'm the Spirit of Spring. I'm not supposed to be spreading Spring right now though, so I have to be careful about how I use my powers. I don't want to make Jasper or August mad. It's getting to be Fall soon, and August is pretty territorial about the end of Summer as it is."

Harry and Ron both shared a mystified look, but Arthur nodded along, humoring her.

"What's your name?" he asked her kindly.

"Lillian," Lillian promptly answered.

"What about your last name?" he asked, gently trying to get her to tell him more information.

Lillian frowned a little as she thought, but she came up with a blank. She didn't have a last name. But Pitch was like her dad, sort of.. And his last name was Black. Right?

Was Pitch Black his _actual_ name though? She had never thought to ask. To her, he was just Pitch.

"Um.. I dunno," she said hesitantly after a minute. "I don't really have one."

"Right," Arthur said as he rolled up his sleeve. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Ron nudged Harry as he noticed that his Dad had his wand out and looked about ready to be firing a spell. Both he and Harry discreetly moved out of the way, giving Arthur a clear shot.

Harry felt a little bad for the girl, but wondered how she had gotten all the way to England, if she lived in the U.S. Did their family come here on a vacation?

"Not really," Lillian said, then frowned as she noticed what Arthur was holding. "Hey!" she said suddenly. "Why are you holding that stick thi - "

" _Obliviate!_ " Arthur shouted as a beam of light shot from his wand to Lillian.

Her eyes instantly lost their focus and she looked very dazed.

"I'll have to take her to the Ministry," Arthur said with a sigh. "I might as well drive her to the visitor's entrance. I'm not sure how she'd handle apparating or the floo. It would be dangerous to have to place another memory charm on her in such a short period of time, especially with her being so young."

"Will she be alright?" Harry asked him anxiously. He didn't know why, but he felt bad for her. She was just a kid after all. A kid with a big imagination.

"She'll be just fine," Arthur assured him. "She won't remember the car ride or anything about being here."

"What about that Spirit nonsense?" Molly asked. "She seemed convinced she had some sort of power."

"Yes.. well.." Arthur said. "Chances are she got that idea from something the boys might have said. With her memories of the car ride gone, it shouldn't be a problem.. But just in case, I erased her memories of that too."

Lillian shook her head, still looking very dazed. Her eyes were still unfocused and she seemed to be having a very hard time following the conversation.

She was in fact, having a very hard time thinking at all. Her mind seemed to be in a pleasant fog, and she didn't seem eager to come back to reality.

She smiled vaguely at all of them and didn't seem to mind when Arthur rose and took her hand, pulling her up from her seat.

"Come on then," he said to her. "Why don't you and I go for a nice car ride? We'll figure out where your parents are, and get you back to them."

"What if you can't find them?" Harry asked.

Arthur grimaced at that thought, as he wasn't entirely sure what the Ministry would do. They usually didn't have to deal with wayward muggle children.

"We'll worry about that when we get to it," he said to Harry. "But I'm sure we'll find them."

With that he lead the dazed Lillian out of the house, and soon they were on their way to the Ministry.

Back at his lair, Pitch was starting to get a bad feeling. It was the sort of parental feeling he would get when Lillian was up to something, or in trouble.

But he was busy experimenting with some stolen dreamsand, and he didn't have time for such things.

With an impatient sigh, he brushed the feeling away and went back to playing with the dreamsand.

He just _knew_ he could find a way to twist the good dreams to his advantage.

As he played around with the dreamsand more, he soon forgot all about his bad feeling.

* * *

Author's Note: So the idea here is that Lillian drops into Harry Potter's world and drags at least Jack Frost into things, and maybe the rest of the Guardians? And a Pitch that's acting strange? (Since this takes place before the Rise of the Guardians chapters and he isn't fixed yet by the Man in the Moon.) And that will change the story around. They will definitely at least need Tooth, since Lillian just had a very large chunk of memories erased.. Silly wizards. They always seem to obliviate first and figure things out second.

I'm also toying around with the idea of Harry's home. I mean.. _obviously_ things are going on if he has _bars_ on his windows, and nobody seems to think this is strange? Fred and George mention that Harry was being starved, but then they never seem to bring it up ever again and Ron and Hermione never question anything about the Dursleys. I'm kinda sorta toying around with Pitch rescuing him eventually, but I'm thinking that might be a bit of a stretch. I'll probably be working on the next chapter of this while I write the next Child of Spring chapter, since even I'm curious about what's going to happen to Lillian at the Ministry.

Anyway, sorry about my long author's notes and I hope you all like this chapter.. I'm sure you weren't expecting me to start off where I did, but I didn't want to just plunk Lillian or Jack or anyone straight into Hogwarts. I also didn't want to start off with Manny asking them to help Harry, since that's been done a bazillion times. I figured having them accidentally stumble into Harry's world would be more interesting.


	58. Chapter 50: Tea Time with Mother Nature

Author's Note: At last! Regular plot update. Not only that, but we have _officially_ hit Chapter 50, not including all those Interludes. This is also officially the longest anything I have ever written. :) So yay! I wanted to make this chapter extra long, but I hit a good stopping point. I had time to think about the plot some more and where I want it to go. This is good, since I somewhat know what's coming in advance, but also bad, since now I want to skip everything and get to the really cool stuff. Thankfully for you, when I hit that point I stopped and thought _more_ about the more immediate plot, and came up with the rest of this chapter, yay. I threw some fun with the Burgess kids in there at the last second, since I've been neglecting them and they should be more involved in the plot.

Now, reviews! I'll start with the HP crossover reviews first, then last actual plot chapter reviews, so please bear with me.

HP Reviews:

CrossoverJunkie, I have actually read the first couple Harry Dresden books, and I really liked them. I got distracted by other things and never did read any more though, so I missed out on the seven laws of magic. I have to admit that I was highly amused while reading them, since most of them get broken some how or another in the HP series. I'm not really a huge fan of the memory charm either, but you have to admit that the Ministry wizards have absolutely no problem with obliviating any muggle they feel is on to them. My case in point is the poor guy at the camping site for the Quidditch World Cup. I think the ministry official told Mr. Weasley that the muggle wasn't happy unless he had at least ten memory charms a day, which I feel might cause some brain damage there! So I don't feel that Mr. Weasley was out of line for obliviating what he felt was a muggle who had accidentally stumbled upon their family. Don't worry though, Lillian will get sorted out. ..And yes, maybe it was a little cliche, but I still feel like it's in line with the HP universe.

kame otaku brought up a good point: Would the memory charm work the same on spirits as it would on a regular human? HM! Guess we'll have to wait and see. :)

rainbowunicroms459, don't worry Jack will BBFS all over the place and I'm sure once Pitch figures out what's going on, he'll FFFS (father-figure-frantic-syndrome) all over the place too. And I do plan on including Jack and the others eventually too.

DOCTORSINTHETARDIS was yelling at Pitch and Pitch does need a good kick in the rear. I'm sure Jack will be happy to provide it for him!

Now.. Chapter 49 reviews!

DOCTORSINTHETARDIS suggest that Jack make an ice bubble and the he and the Sprites could travel that way by using the Wind. The problems I saw with this would be that, if Jack made it too thin, the ice would break. And if he made it thick so it would be more sturdy and not melt, then it would be too heavy to fly in the air. It was a really cool suggestion though, so I might use ice bubbles in the future for other things. Thanks for the idea though! You got me thinking about what other kinds of things Jack could be doing with his powers.

CrossoverJunkie suggested that Mother Nature should be doing her own investigation, and she will, since the weather situation has escalated quite a bit since the last Seasonal Meeting, which wasn't actually all that long ago. (Even though it feels like it was!) I also really liked your suggestion about the old, forgotten tune. I couldn't see Pitch singing it, but humming.. yes!

Aqua and Luna I'm glad that you liked my fic, especially since it somehow gained a whole ton of OCs when I wasn't looking. I have to admit, that I'm not a huge fan of OCs, so I don't blame you for passing this up. I'm glad you decided to check it out though!

Alrighty, I think I covered everyone. I also want to thank all the people who have faved and whatnot! If you want updates about any of the other fics (Jamie's Ghost Hunting and UFO adventures, the HP crossover) you'll have to do an author alert, since I might not mention it in the author's notes in this fic. Or else you can just check my profile or whatnot.

OK! On with the story! I also hope you like the part with Mother Nature and don't think it's too mushy. I admit it, I tend to put the characters through a lot emotionally.

Chapter Fifty: Tea Time with Mother Nature

The dark spirit nodded to himself as thought through his plan. It would work.

"Now now," he said far too sweetly to the Spring Sprites and Spirits. "Don't be like that."

His expression turned darker and some of the insanity could be seen shining through.

"You know how I don't like it when my Sprites don't listen to me," he said, practically growling.

The poor Spring Sprites looked terrified and the Spirits were no better. But they knew better than to try and argue, so they didn't say anything.

Soon the dark spirit had their cage open and he was hauling out a few of the Spirits. He leaned in close to them and whispered his plan on luring the Spring Spirit out.

When they heard what he wanted them to do, their eyes widened. Sure, it was still technically their season still, but with all the strange weather going on, this was _insane._

They would have to fight with other Seasonal Spirits' magic to get theirs out and be the more dominate. Not to mention there was only a few of them that the dark spirit would allow to go, and doing what he wanted on such a large scale would take a serious amount of power.

The Spring Spirits glanced at each other and then looked at the dark spirit. They knew they didn't have any choice.

Very reluctantly, they nodded and with a cackle of delight, the dark spirit ushered them out of his lair.

That Spring Spirit would soon be all his.

Very soon.

* * *

Jasper sat in his painting room on a stool in front of his easel, but he wasn't painting. He was just staring blankly at the canvas while he tried to think of _something_ to get rid of Jack Frost and his Sprites.

They simply could _not_ stay in his forest. Jasper would never turn them out with nowhere to go, of course, but the longer Jack and his Sprites stayed, there was more of a chance of his winter magic escaping, and that would be terrible for his forest.

Not to mention his poor Sprites. They needed the coolness of Fall, and not the harsh temperatures of Winter. If Jack's winter magic escaped, it could make them sick, or even cause them to fade.

No, he definitely had to get rid of Frost. The main problem was transporting those Winter Sprites though. Even if they seemed fine now, Jasper knew that they were severely weakened still and they shouldn't be traveling on their own for a long time. They might be ok if Frost carried them, but that was no guarantee.

He didn't want to be responsible for causing Frost's last Winter Sprites to fade, so he decided it wouldn't be worth the risk to have them stumble around the North Pole. Besides, he didn't want Frost to get lost and he wouldn't have any way of finding Frost if he did let him wander around..

The problem was that the only other way to get to the Pole would be to have Jack fly, and the temperatures were so unpredictable right now. If only there were some way of keeping the sprites cool while Jack flew.

Jasper's thoughts wandered as he tried to come up with a solution. He focused on his canvas and paused, frowning at the telltale signs of ice in yet another painting. He was letting this Frost business get to him.

He pushed the sleeves of his hoodie up as he prepared to grab his paintbrush. Painting always helped to calm him and he had his best ideas when he was painting. Before he could grab the brush however, he paused and looked down at his hoodie.

He remembered when he had come upon this particular hoodie in a thrift shop window and decided that he _had_ to have it. As far as he knew, he was one of the few spirits that would wear modern clothing. Most clung to the fashions of their previous life, but not him.

He smiled a little as he thought of what people had accomplished over the years, and then it hit him.

It was so obvious!

He shook his head and looked at his favorite Sprite.

"I should have thought of that in the first place," he told her.

She blinked up at him in confusion, but nodded all the same.

"Do you want to keep an eye on things?" he asked her. "I'll be right back."

She nodded eagerly and watched as Jasper disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Pitch Black and Sandy stepped out of the shadows and into Mother Nature's throne room. Sandy shuddered as they stepped out. Pitch had offered to transport them, and Sandy had accepted as more of a show of faith in Pitch than anything.

He trusted that Pitch was good now and that he wouldn't do anything that would hurt himself, but..

Sandy held in another shudder. Traveling through the the shadows made him feel a little cold and _empty._ There was something wrong with lurking in such darkness. At least for him, there was. Pitch didn't seem bothered at all by it.

As he approached the throne with Pitch, he could see that Mother Nature was distractedly toying with a bracelet. She seemed agitated and a worried frown marred her face as she stared down at the bracelet. She didn't even seem to notice them, which surprised Sandy.

He made a few golden pictures over his head, but then stopped when he noticed Mother Nature hadn't noticed them. He gave Pitch a "go on" look, that Pitch dutifully ignored. Pitch was frowning too, and seemed rather reluctant to go up to Mother Nature. He was still very upset with her and didn't want to be indebted to her at all.

He _especially_ didn't want her anywhere near _his_ Jack or Lillian, not after what had happened.

Seeing that Pitch needed a little help, Sandy elbowed him rather hard and at Pitch's rather loud "Ow! What was that for?!" Mother Nature finally looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was that was visiting her.

"..F..Father.." she faltered, feeling out of sorts. "I didn't think you would come see me.."

Pitch looked about ready to give her a snarky reply, but at Sandy's reproachful look, he relented.

"I've come to see you about one of your Seasonals," he said a little stiffly.

"My Seasonals?" she questioned, looking confused. "What about them?"

Pitch opened his mouth to explain, when Sandy essentially blurted it out with a barrage of golden sand images.

Mother Nature took this all in.

"Jack Frost?" she asked him. "This is about him?"

"..He's missing," Pitch said quietly. "We were wondering if you knew where he was."

Mother Nature's confusion turned to regret.

"I know many things," she said softly, "But I don't know where my Seasonals are at any given time. I can tell when they are doing as they should and when they are not.. But I can't tell you their current whereabouts."

"Wonderful," Pitch snapped. "Just wonderful. It was so useful to have us come here," he continued as he glared at Sandy.

Mother Nature's gaze dropped back down to the green and pink bracelet she was holding and Sandy noticed that her shoulders had drooped a little in disappointment.

Sandy frowned up at Pitch and pointed at Mother Nature with a pointed look. It said quite clearly: _Talk to her._

Pitch raised an eyebrow at Sandy's look. They didn't have time for this, Jack was missing! Who knew what sorts of horrible things could be happening to him, or already might have happened! They had to get out of there and go look for him! And he didn't care what the Guardians said about not interfering with Seasonal business. He'd tear Jasper's forest apart branch by branch if he had to.

He looked impatiently back at Mother Nature, and then he finally noticed her defeated posture. She was gazing down sadly at a bracelet she was holding, and didn't look at Pitch, as if she expected him to leave right away now that she couldn't be of any use to him.

He sighed as he saw all this and inwardly grumbled.

"..Do you have any tea?" he finally asked. There was no way he could handle this discussion without any tea.

Mother Nature looked up at him and blinked in surprise.

"Tea?"

* * *

Jasper had decided that in honor of Jack, he should do his shopping in Burgess. He looked around at a few stores and already was flushed from the heat. He hadn't even been gone for ten minutes and he already missed his forest.

He wasn't sure how Jack was going to stand the heat when he traveled, but he reminded himself that not everywhere was scorching hot right now. He wondered if August was doing anything about this, but then remembered all the ranting August had done, complaining about said temperatures and told himself that August was trying his best.

As Jasper entered a generic store, he wandered the aisles and soon found what he was looking for.

 _Perfect._

Soon he had grabbed what he needed and disappeared in a swirl of fall leaves. Jamie's mom, who had been shopping at the time, stopped to pick up a fall leaf in disbelief. She laughed to herself and shook her head and then continued her shopping. She wondered what Jamie would make of her finding a leaf in _May_ , and then grinned. It might be fun to see his reaction.

So she tucked the leaf away in her pocket and continued on with her shopping.

* * *

Jack was busing chatting away with his Sprites when Jasper appeared suddenly in a swirl of leaves, holding an armful of things.

"I know how you can get back to the Pole," he said happily to Jack. He was happy because the Sprites could now travel safely and also that all the winter magic would soon be going away.

"How's that?" Jack asked as he looked at what Jasper was holding.

"It's quite simple," Jasper said as he plunked a small cooler down on the table near the Winter Sprites.

He popped open the top and began lining the bottom with little cool packs and folded a kitchen towel and placed it on top of them.

"You can use your magic to make the inside of this cooler very cold," Jasper explained to him. "They can sit on the towel and be relatively comfortable. They won't even have to move while you're traveling, so it shouldn't be taxing on them. You can use your powers to keep the cooler the perfect temperature for them while you're flying. All you have to do is make it to the North Pole without melting."

Jack looked from the cooler to Jasper, then back to the cooler and back to Jasper again. He burst out laughing and Jasper was fairly offended that Jack was laughing at him, until Jack spoke.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Jack said with a chuckle. "It was so obvious!"

Jasper blinked in surprise that Jack Frost had essentially said the same thing he had, then gave him a small smile.

"I know, right?" he agreed with Jack.

"What do you guys think?" Jacked asked his Sprites. "Think you're up for a trip?"

Neve and Neva looked at one another with a grin and then they both flew inside the cooler.

* * *

As Jack took off with his Sprites safely tucked away in the cooler, Pitch was sitting down in one of the rooms of Mother Nature's palace. There was a nice silver tea tray containing a nice china set of tea, that had various seasonal things painted on them. Pitch had chosen the Fall cup, since he didn't want to have to choose between Spring or Winter, while Sandy had opted for Summer for the same reasons. Mother Nature, who was still a little preoccupied, chose Spring. The Winter cup had been placed off to the side and looked a little lonely all by itself.

Mother Nature took a sip of her tea while studiously avoiding Pitch's gaze. Pitch was also avoiding Mother Nature's gaze and fiddling around with his tea cup.

Sandy looked from one to the other before helping himself to a cookie from a small pile of them on a plate and dunking it into his cup. He took a big bite from the cookie before giving Pitch a look.

Pitch could feel Sandy's gaze on him, and inwardly grumbled. Emily Jane was the one who had thrown the fit, not him! She was also the one who had hidden poor Jack and Lillian away in a cave!

Not looking at Pitch at all, Mother Nature quietly spoke to her cup.

"How are they?" she asked softly.

"Jack was recovering from a cold," Pitch snapped. At Sandy's reproachful look, he took a deep breath and took a long sip of tea.

Mother Nature flinched as though Pitch had struck her.

"Why do you care for them so?" Mother Nature said, her tone betraying her hurt. "We have not spoken for so long, before the.. incident," she said, hinting at when Pitch had been in her throne room last, "and here you are.. calling them your children."

Pitch finally looked at Mother Nature, eying her.

"I thought you would understand, you being so much older than they," he told her, trying to keep the bite out of his tone. "They had no one to look after them, and it was you who would not speak to me," he reminded her.

Mother Nature flushed and looked down at her cup again.

"You were not my father," she said softly. "You let evil take hold of your heart, and yet.." she trailed off.

"I took them in," he supplied for her.

"I had thought there was no redeeming you," she said in a wavering voice. Her cup was becoming a little blurry. "I thought I had lost my most beloved father forever."

"You know the Man in the Moon helped me," he said after a pause. "I may not be what I once was, but I am no longer the Pitch Black you knew."

"I know that now," she whispered.

There was silence as Pitch drank from his cup again. As he set his cup back down in his saucer, he looked at Mother Nature who had tears shining in her eyes. His look softened, and he couldn't help but hum an old, forgotten tune.

Tears fell down Mother Nature's cheeks as she heard the tune she hadn't heard in so very long.

"..Mother used to sing that to me, when you were away.." she sniffled.

"I know," Pitch said as he stopped humming. "I came home earlier than expected one night, and heard her singing to you."

More tears fell down Mother Nature's face and she brushed them away delicately.

"What I did was unforgivable," she said, her voice thick with tears. "I should never have taken my anger for you out on Jack and Lillian."

"You will always be my child," Pitch said softly to her. "You will always be my Emily Jane."

Mother Nature's lip trembled.

"That's all I wanted," she said quietly. "That's all I've ever wanted."

Sandy watched as Pitch abandoned his tea cup and walked over to Mother Nature. As Pitch hugged his Emily Jane, Sandy couldn't help but smile a little smugly.

And Pitch said he didn't want to come.

* * *

Jack was flying through the air, his Wind whipping around him, blowing his hair playfully. The coolness of his winter wind was helping to keep him from getting too hot, and it didn't take a lot of effort on his part to keep the little cooler nice and cool for his Winter Sprites.

Neve and Neva were sitting inside the cooler, happily chatting away about what they though the North Pole would be like now. It had been so long since they had been out of that dreadful dark spirit's lair.

Neva was wondering how long it would take them to get there, and she might have been worried, but she could clearly hear Jack tell them every once in awhile that it would be alright, and they still had a ways to go yet.

The two Sprites continued their speculating, until they felt the cooler jerk a little and Jack's voice could clearly be heard.

"Hey, what's that?" his voice said, sounding a little muffled to them through the cooler.

Neve raised an eyebrow in question and looked up at the lid of the cooler, as if it would help him see outside.

 _What do you think he sees?_ Neva asked Neve softly.

Neve shrugged in response and then the cooler gave another little jerk as Jack took off again, the Wind helping him to fly quickly.

The two Sprites were almost convinced that it hadn't been anything when they suddenly heard Jack cry out and then their world literally was turned upside down.

The cooler thankfully hadn't been that high up in the air at that point, as it tumbled over and over, finally landing with a thud on the ground.

The two Winter Sprites had tumbled head over heels and were grateful that the cooler had landed on its bottom.

"What are you doing?!" they heard Jack's voice cry out. "Let me go!"

"We can't," an anguished voice replied to Jack. It sounded masculine and weary.

"What?" Jack said, sounding confused.

"We're sorry!" another voice said, this one more high pitched and feminine. " _He'll_ know if we don't do what he wants."

"Wha?" was Jack's confused reply, but if he was going to say anything else, it was cut off.

The two Winter Sprites looked at one another as they heard nothing but silence. The cooler was still quite cold from Jack's winter magic, but for how long?

And what had happened to him?!

* * *

Now it was Bunny's turn to pace back and forth as they all waited for Pitch and Sandy to return. Tooth had been served a cup of tea and was fiddling around her cup nervously, unaware that at that moment, Pitch was having tea as well.

"What do you think is taking them so long?" she finally asked.

"Knowin' Pitch, Sandy is probably tryin' ta keep him from strangling her. Ya know how upset he was 'about Lillian and Jack bein' in that cave," Bunny said as he took over eying the globe constantly for the blue lights.

He frowned as he saw that other lights, the light of mortal children who believed were starting to dim a little. It wasn't so long ago that all belief had almost faded and with this blasted weather being all crazy, it was starting to take a toll on the kids.

He huffed in irritation as he took to pacing again. After a minute or two, he abruptly said he'd go check on Lillian and stomped out of the room.

Lillian was still feeling out of sorts and was grateful when Bunny came in as a distraction. But soon it was clear to her that Bunny was distracted.

"What's going on?" she asked Bunny. "Have you found Jack yet?"

Bunny didn't want to admit he was waiting on Pitch to come back from Mother Nature's, so he stalled and noticed Lillian had her notebook out, with her notes for her book written in it.

"How's the book comin'?" Bunny asked, in what he hoped was a casual tone.

Lillian rolled her eyes, but told Bunny that was fine. As she and Bunny made small talk, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Jack. He had gone to rescue his Winter Sprites, but that was so long ago.

She wished she had her bracelet so she could use her flower of Doom to transport her to Jasper's. Without it, she felt so useless.

She frowned a little as that feeling of wrongness overtook her again. She had to get to the bottom of this, but how could she, when she had so little control over her powers right now?

* * *

Some time later, Jamie was walking with his friends down to Jack's lake. They knew Jack wouldn't be there with it being so hot, but they still liked to hang out there. It was quiet and the lake was peaceful.

"What is going on with this weather, anyway?" Jamie asked as he glanced over in the direction of Pitch's lair. He didn't notice anything unusual, nor did he see any golden eyes in shadows glaring out at him or his friends.

"Could be whatchamacallit," Pippa offered. "La Nina? Where the weather is warmer than normal."

Jamie gave her a look.

"Lillian's in charge of spring, and it's still spring! This is like, the middle of summer weather. Plus my mom told me she found a leaf from _fall_ at the store. Like, this leaf was bright red and orange and looked like it had just fallen off a tree."

The kids all thought about that one, before Cupcake offered a suggestion.

"Lillian's the Spirit of Spring, right? What if there are Spirits for other seasons?"

Jamie's eyes brightened at that.

"Wow, cool! You think one was at the store?!"

He was so impressed in fact, that he failed to notice the cooler on the ground by Jack's lake and tripped on it, face planting right by the water.

"Ooh, what's that?" Monty asked as he approached it.

"Looks like trash to me," Pippa offered.

Jamie sat up and eyed the cooler suspiciously.

"Is it just me, or is this trash talking in squeaky voices?"

* * *

Author's Note: I think we all know where I was contemplating stopping the story before. Aren't you glad I decided that would be too evil and write a little more? :) I also know "nina" is supposed to have ~ above it, but I'm not proficient enough to figure it out on my keyboard, so you'll have to forgive me for leaving the ~ out over the N. Just pretend it's there. Also, the highly amused part of me could see Jamie and his friends stuffing the Winter Sprites in Jamie's freezer out of desperation. I wonder what they'll do with them?

Also! The next chapter will finally reveal the dark spirit's name and we'll see some action! So be prepared for some BAM! POW! ZAP! to be coming up. (You're supposed to imagine those words in epic comic format, or else them showing up like they do in super old shows, like the really old Batman. I could see Lillian finding the series somewhere and binge watching them all, and then boring everyone silly with the plot. "Hey, remember the episode where..?")

As always, if you have any suggestions I'm all ears! I could also use a little help with the dark spirit's powers, since he needs something that will differentiate him from Pitch. I want them to be somewhat similar (you'll find out why later), but they need their differences too. I also wanted to throw in that I didn't forget about the Nightmares.


	59. Chapter 51: Nature's Balance

Author's Note: Thanks for all the power suggestions, guys. You really helped me out with this chapter. Speaking of which, I hope I did the dark spirit justice. He also says something in this chapter that I'm tempted to elaborate on in a future chapter via a flashback. It reminded me that not all characters start off as being evil, so maybe we could see a glimpse of the dark spirit before he became what he is today. Plus I love the fluffy moments. :)

Now.. reviews!

CrossoverJunkie had a suggestion that the dark spirit's powers could involve having people relive frightening moments in their head. I literally had a "DUH" moment there, because I had read a book that involved a phantom that had that very power. I just didn't think about using it as the dark spirit's power. I was going to go with this, but then Guest suggested using decaying/decomposition as the dark spirit's power and how it pertains to balance. Maybe at one time the dark spirit was interested in keeping the balance, but now he can use that power to tip the balance into his favor.. I hope Guest doesn't mind that the dark spirit is SO going to abuse this power by using it for other things. :)

M.v.j.M wanted me to have the HP crossover chapter be its own story, and don't worry it will! I'll be working on Chapter 2 and then posting it as its own story like I did with Jamie's Ghost Hunting/UFO Adventures. Child of Spring will always be the first to be updated though, so expect slow updates on the other two. Also, did you know how _easy_ it is to crossover ROTG/Child of Spring with.. well, _anything?_ I thought of doing a Series of Unfortunate Events crossover, since.. HELLO. Children. Rise of the Guardians. It just fits. But I don't need any more stories in the works, but.. arg. I hate my brain sometimes.

Skypeoplephoenix732 suggested that the dark spirit's powers counter another guardian's powers, like using hopelessness, etc. I decided to go with Guest's suggestion instead, but you did give me an interesting idea for waaaay in the future plot. So after this little plot is over with, and the next thing I have planned, I might go with this. So thanks for helping me to keep this story going!

And if you guys are curious, I wanted the dark spirit's powers to be not exactly like Pitch's, but still dark. If this chapter doesn't make it obvious why, then it'll explain more fully in the future.

Now on with the fic! (Also, this chapter backtracks so we can see what happened to Jack from his point of view.)

Chapter Fifty-One: Nature's Balance

A little earlier, Jack was flying through the air, his staff in one hand and the cooler in the other. He made sure to keep a firm grip on it and kept channeling small amounts of his winter magic through it, so that it would stay nice and cool for his newly rescued sprites.

It was when he was nearing North America, that he spotted it. He paused to stare at it in confusion.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked no one in particular.

It looked like.. spring flowers. Which wouldn't be that unusual since it was late spring, but there were _hundreds of thousands_ of them and they covered the ground like a multicolored carpet.

Jack was very confused since it _couldn't_ have been Lillian, since she was still at the Pole. Jack only hesitated for a moment more, before he took off again and silently urged the Wind to hurry.

Jack flew as fast as he could, and eventually he saw that the flowers seemed to be making a sort of wide path - straight to Burgess.

Flowers weren't dangerous, sure, but his first thought was of the kids and he didn't want anything happening to them. So just to be _sure_ they were alright, he decided to go check it out.

Jack grew more than a little concerned as some time later, he saw that the flowers led right to his lake. He had the Wind fly him low to the ground, but he didn't land. He was somewhat grateful for his foresight when two pairs of arms snatched him right out of the air.

"What are you doing?!" Jack cried out as he struggled in their grip. "Let me go!"

Some part of his mind said that they looked a little like spirits, but that was impossible! They were dressed in a mixture of green and happy spring colors. One was a male wearing pants while the female had on a dress. If Jack hadn't been so panicked, he would have seen the mixture of shock and regret on their faces, as they realized that they hadn't captured the Seasonal Spirit that they were meant to.

The two spirits exchanged a nervous look. The male shook his head, and the female internally cringed. They had heard the rumors of the sprites that were allowed out, and also had seen it for themselves on the dark spirit's mirror: Jack Frost was close with the Guardians. Capturing him meant incurring their wrath.

"We can't," the male spirit spoke up, sounding as weary as he looked. He was so tired of everything, but he couldn't leave his fellow spirit or the other Spring Sprites.

"What?" Jack asked, looking confused as if he had misheard them. Of course they could! Right? They were the ones who grabbed them, so all they had to do was let go. Jack glanced down at the ground worriedly where the cooler was resting. He hoped his Sprites were alright.

"We're sorry!" the female spirit piped up, looking incredibly guilty. Jack looked just like a boy, after all. A teenager that wasn't quite an adult. She knew that he would suffer if they brought him back to the dark spirit, but she also knew that they didn't have any choice. " _He'll_ know if we don't do what he wants."

"Wha?" Jack started to ask, but the other spirits quickly used their powers and they all vanished in a whirl of spring flower petals.

* * *

In the dark spirit's cave, the three spirits all appeared in a whirl of flower petals. The two Spring Spirits were holding onto Jack Frost.

The dark spirit frowned for a moment, but then he grinned. If he had Jack Frost in his command, he would be _unstoppable._ He had heard that Jack had given even Pitch Black a run for his money, so that meant the Frost kid had be strong. He noticed how nervous Jack looked and gave him a wicked grin.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. A wayward snowflake, hm?" the dark spirit said as he eyed Jack.

"Let me go!" Jack demanded as he struggled harder.

The dark spirit noticed that the two Spring Sprites were having trouble holding onto Jack, so he walked over to them and plucked Jack's staff out his hands.

"I don't think so," the dark spirit said smoothly as he toyed with Jack's staff, twirling it with a smirk.

Jack's eyes widened as he saw the dark spirit playing with his staff. The dark spirit's smirk widened as he saw the sheer desperation in Jack's eyes. That smirk however, turned into a look of astonishment as Jack wrenched free of the Spring Spirits' grasp and lunged at the dark spirit, snatching his staff back.

If the dark spirit thought Jack Frost would be a pushover, he was sorely mistaken. Jack glared at the dark spirit and shot a blast of electric blue winter magic at him, aiming to freeze him into the next ice age. Obviously this was a very bad spirit, if he was into kidnapping and taking away his staff, which helped him control his powers.

The dark spirit was forced to dodge quickly, and the next few blasts that Jack shot his way. With a snarl, the dark spirit approached the remaining Winter Sprites in their cage and held out a finger to them menacingly.

"Stop this foolishness!" he commanded to Jack, and Jack froze in the middle of taking aim.

Jack, uncertain if this was some sort of trick gave the dark spirit a cocky smirk, but inside he was worried. Those sprites the dark spirit was by looked just like the two Winter Sprites he had left behind.

"Why? What can you do?" Jack asked nonchalantly as he twirled his staff. While Jack looked calm and cool, he was ready to blast off his strongest blast of winter magic if necessary. _Nobody_ threatened his sprites.

The dark spirit gave a rather evil grin at that.

"Do you know who I am, Jack Frost?" he asked, his voice laced with dark amusement.

"Hmm.. Let me see. Black hair, dark eyes, fetish for black clothes.. Are you related to Pitch?" Jack asked with a chuckle.

The dark spirit's eyes narrowed at that.

"Don't compare me to _him!_ " he shouted angrily at Jack. "I'm far more frightening that HE will ever be! King of Nightmares.. Bah!"

Jack blinked in surprise at the sudden outburst.

Okaaay.. Don't mention Pitch. Yeesh.

"I'm Gethen Grendal, and I'm _far_ more frightening than _Pitch Black!_ "

Jack couldn't help it. Really, he couldn't.

He knew the situation was very serious, but seriously..

 _Gethen Grendal?_

Gethen wasn't particularly happy when Jack burst out laughing at the sound of his name.

In fact, he was pretty enraged. So much so that he forced open the Winter Sprites' cage and grabbed one of the last remaining Winter Spirits this time.

The Spirit's eyes widened at this and he turned large, frightened eyes on the amused Jack Frost. Why was his Seasonal _laughing_ at Gethen? Didn't Jack know just how powerful this dark spirit was?!

Jack's laughter was abruptly cut off as he took in the site of Gethen manhandling the poor Winter Spirit.

"Let him go!" Jack glared at Gethen.

"Laugh at me will you," Gethen growled. "You don't have any idea what I can do, do you?! Everyone always underestimated me, but no more!"

Gethen's hand began to glow, and the Winter Spirit winced in pain.

"..N-no..!" the Spirit cried out.

Gethen was holding the Spirit by the arm, and the skin under Gethen's hand started to turn translucent, and then fade.

The Spirit was crying out in pain as he was starting to fade, bit by bit.

"Stop it!" Jack cried out, completely horrified at what he was seeing. "What are you doing?!"

"It's funny, isn't it?" Gethen said conversationally as if he wasn't slowly murdering a Spirit in front of Jack's eyes. "The different ways we can use our powers. For instance, you wouldn't think causing plants to decompose and die wouldn't be particularly powerful, but if you apply it to other things.."

Gethen grinned malevolently as the Winter Spirit was becoming more and more translucent. Now almost the Spirit's entire arm was translucent and barely visible. The Winter Spirit had adverted his gaze from Gethen and his arm, and had icy tears trailing down his cheeks.

"Decompose..?" Jack said. "Wait.. _Decay?_ You make things decay?!"

"Keeps the balance of Nature, you know." Gethen said as he kept flicking his gaze from the suffering Winter Spirit to Jack Frost, who was looking horrified about the Spirit, yet a little confused about Gethen's powers.

Jack just stared at Gethen.

"You've gotta be kidding," he said in disbelief. "With everything that's going on.."

"No one appreciated me," Gethen said darkly. "I bring death and destruction. You pathetic Seasonal Spirits were always complaining! Oh boo hoo, I made your stupid Spring Flowers die. Oh boo hoo, now the Summer plants are dead. Oh no, don't kill off my precious leaves!"

"Mistral was the only one who understood. Being a bringer of death himself.. Then _you_ had to come along! With your goodness and kindness.. and _fun._ Pathetic! Almost as pathetic as the 'King' of Nightmares. That should be _my_ job! Forget the Balance, forget plants.. I can cause so many more things to fade. To decay."

Gethen flicked his gaze back to the Winter Spirit and his eyes lit up with amusement.

"Spirits, for instance."

The Spirit had been silently suffering all through Gethen's speech, and Jack's eyes widened as he saw that almost half the Spirit was nearly invisible.

"STOP IT!" Jack cried out desperately. He shot a blast of winter magic, but this time he aimed right for the Spirit, who instantly became completely visible again. The blast was so strong that Gethen's hand froze a little and he was forced to let go of the Spirit.

Gethen rubbed his frozen hand with his good one, but he smirked at Jack.

"My, how powerful you are. Think of the things we could do if we combined our powers together. A neverending ice age.. Nothing but destruction and chaos. The _fear_ we could inflict on everyone!"

Jack aimed his staff at Gethen.

"I'll never help you!"

Gethen snapped his fingers at the Spring Spirits, who leaped at Jack.

"We'll see about that."

* * *

Jamie opened up the cooler and stared inside. The kids all crowded around Jamie to look inside the cooler too.

"Ohh, fairies!" Pippa squealed.

"Omigosh, they're so cute!" Cupcake added.

The two Winter Sprites stared up at the humans in complete shock.

No human had _ever_ seen them before. How was this possible?

Jamie looked down at the fairies, frowning a bit as he took in their attire.

"Why do they kinda look like Jack?" he asked.

Monty pushed up his glasses for a better look.

"They have white hair and are wearing winter clothes," Monty said as he looked at them carefully. "The girl has on a scarf and earmuffs, even though it's so warm out.

Jamie very carefully stuck his hand just inside the cooler.

"Oh wow, it's really cold in there," he said as he withdrew his hand.

Neva had ducked her head at that, and Neve moved protectively in front of her, but he didn't draw out his sword. Instead, he frowned at Jamie for frightening poor Neva, although Jamie didn't seem to take notice.

Claude and Caleb looked at one another and then looked back inside the cooler.

"Maybe Jack made it cold for them," Caleb suggested.

Jamie looked confused, but then looked down at the two Sprites.

"Do you guys need cooler temperatures like Jack does?"

Neve gave a curt nod at that and then held out his hand, the palm facing upwards. It glowed a faint blue with winter magic, and single large snowflake appeared out of thin air, very intricately designed, looking more like lace than snow.

Neve rose his palm into the air and the snowflake floated up and out of the cooler to stop right in front of Jamie's face. The snowflake managed to stay in midair for a few seconds before the heat got to it and it melted in an instant.

Neve knew he shouldn't be using his powers so soon, but he had to get his point across. They weren't fairies, they were Winter Sprites. Sprites that needed the cold and not to be gawked at by human children. If he could get these kids to help him and Neva out for now.. Oh, if only another Sprite was around! They could ask for help for Jack, at least.

Jamie stared at where the single snowflake had been, and then looked down at Neve.

"You have powers.. Like Jack," he said to the Sprite. "Do you help Jack out?"

Neve nodded rapidly. Good, the kid was smart.

"Jamie," Pippa piped up. "Remember, the fairy said that they need the cold. And you're kinda letting all the cold out."

Jamie hastily snapped the cooler shut.

"I don't think that's a fairy." he said.

"Then what are they?" Cupcake asked. "They're no unicorns."

"I don't know," Jamie said as he shook his head. "But how are we going to keep them cold? And where IS Jack? If he was looking after them, why is this cooler just laying around?"

"Umm.. what about the freezer?" Monty suggested.

"We need to contact the Guardians," Pippa said. "Maybe they know what's happened to Jack."

"Or Pitch," Jamie added with a shiver. He wasn't looking forward to seeing the Boogeyman, but if it was to help Jack..

Repressing another shudder Jamie cracked open the cooler.

"Don't worry, I'm taking you home with me until we figure out where Jack is," Jamie reassured the Sprites. "I might have to stick you in the freezer for now," Jamie continued, sounding a little sheepish. "I don't have anywhere cold enough."

Neve nodded as the lid snapped shut again.

As the cooler gently rocked while Jamie was walking, Neve sat down with Neva to wait. They exchanged a look as they both sat.

It was a look that said "How can we help our Seasonal?"

* * *

Lillian stared up at the ceiling, bored out of her mind. She glanced at her door. It had been pretty quiet out there for a long time.

Nodding to herself, she got out of bed and wandered to the door. She leaned in close to it and listened.

Silence.

She carefully eased the door open and stuck her head out. With a grin, she noticed that the yeti guards that had been placed at her door were gone.

Excellent!

Now to find out what was going on with Jack. She wandered towards North's workshop when she heard the sound of voices. She quietly walked towards the voices when she heard North, Tooth and Bunny quietly conversing.

Well, North and Tooth were quiet while Bunny was fuming.

"We shouldn'ta let 'em go by themselves! They've been gone fer too long and so has Jack! We haven't even heard a whisper of what's goin' on!"

"I could send some of my fairies out to look around," Tooth suggested. "They can somewhat converse with Seasonal Sprites, so maybe they could find some and figure out what's going on."

Lillian blinked as she heard that. She was standing near the entrance way to the globe room, trying very hard not to be seen.

Lillian drew back as a yeti suddenly raced into the globe room. He was waving his arms around and speaking quickly to North in garbled yetish.

"What?!" North exclaimed. "What do you mean is spring flowers all over by North America? Is near Jack's lake too?"

Lillian blinked at that. Only a Seasonal would be powerful enough to make so many spring flowers like that. But she was the only Spring Seasonal, right?

Jack's lake.. Did it have anything to do with Jack being gone? Maybe there would be a clue about his disappearance!

Lillian brightened, but then her shoulders slumped. She couldn't make her Giant Flower of Doom to get there. She pouted for a minute, but then brightened again as she thought of one mode of transportation.

Santa wouldn't mind too much, right?

Lillian quietly snuck away to where North kept his snow globes. She looked up at the cabinet appreciatively as it was stocked full of snow globes. She had to find something to stand on to reach them, but she managed to snag a couple.

Lillian whispered to one of the snow globes and as Phil entered the room, he saw the bright flash of a portal fading out.

He wasn't too concerned until he saw a flash of pink going through it.

Where was Lillian?!

* * *

Pitch was finishing up his tea, and a look of concern crossed his face.

"What is the matter?" Mother Nature asked, picking up on it right away.

"Something is terribly wrong," he said as he stood. "I should go. We still have to find Jack.."

Mother Nature nodded.

"I have my own investigations to do," she said. "The Balance of Nature is very off, and I need to see my Seasonals to see if they have anything to report on it."

Pitch looked down at Sandy who didn't look all that happy about traveling through the shadows again, but Pitch didn't much care what he thought of that. He looked back at Mother Nature.

"If you see Jasper before I do, make sure you ask about Jack."

Mother Nature nodded.

"Of course I shall, Father." she said, and gave him a small smile.

Pitch returned the smile and before long he and Sandy where disappearing into the shadows again.

Even though he was very worried about Jack, a small part of his heart swelled with warmth. Maybe now he could have three children in his life.

* * *

Author's Note: I tried to include a little something with everyone in this chapter. I felt bad Pitch was being left out, so we get to see a little bit of him with Mother Nature at the end. So do you think Mother Nature will join Pitch's little family? It _would_ be cute seeing her having little fluffy moments with Pitch, Jack and Lillian in the future.

I have a feeling that I'm abusing Guest's suggestion and he/she probably didn't mean for Gethen to use his powers like that. Also, on Gethen's name. His first name is.. I don't remember what language, but it means darkness. The last name is just something totally random that google helped me out with. I'm not very good at naming things, so.. hopefully it's not too lame.

If you guys have any plot suggestions, I'm all ears. If you couldn't tell, things got off track with the last chapter when Jack got kidnapped instead. Sometimes things don't always go according to plan. :) Now I wonder what will happen with Lillian!


	60. Interlude 9: HP & Child of Spring 2

Author's Note: Here is a tiny little snippet of the newly posted Chapter 2 of my latest fic, Harry Potter and the Child of Spring. It is posted as a crossover with Rise of the Guardians and Harry Potter. Sorry if you weren't interested, but I thought I would let those know who don't have me on Author Alert. Plus a reviewer requested it, so here you go. I am working on the next Child of Spring Chapter and hope to get it posted sometime next week, _hopefully_ on Monday. I also hope you guys do like the latest HP chapter. I don't know what to do with my brain sometimes. I hope you don't think it wound up being too cliche. It'll be REALLY interesting to see how Jack and the others take this latest development when they do find out.

Interlude 9: HP & Child of Spring 2

When Lillian finally started snapping out of her daze, she discovered she was now in a small room lined with file cabinets. She blinked and looked around confusedly. She was sitting in a chair by a desk and she saw that the walls were lined with extensive family trees.

She saw on the desk there was a nameplate, but she didn't recognize the name. She furrowed her brow as she read it. It declared that the desk belonged to _Stephen Jorkins of Family Affairs_.

Family Affairs? That didn't ring any bells either. Reading the man's name though, reminded her that she had a name. Her eyes widened a little as that name didn't come to her immediately. Then in a flash she remembered it was Lillian.

She relaxed a little only to tense up again. Lillian _what?_ She realized in a panic that she could barely remember anything! Why was everything so fuzzy?!

As she continued to panic, her bracelet began to glow as it reacted to her emotions. And before Lillian knew it, chaos was reining in the small office.

* * *

Author's Note: The full chapter is already posted, so go check it out. After the next Child of Spring update, I WILL update the Jamie fic next. After that, it's a toss-up. It depends on what I feel like writing, I guess. I have interesting things planned in both the HP fic and Child of Spring, while poor Jamie's fic sits there collecting dust.. Anyway, if you have any plot suggestions for any of my ongoing fics or just comments in general, feel free to review! And for those of you who don't like the idea of the HP crossover, this is the last you shall hear of it in this fic. :) You'll just have to check out the actual story if you want to know about updates.


	61. Interlude 10: Time and Time Again

Author's Note: Ok, so life is getting in my way again. I have part of the next chapter written, but I won't be able to work on it much until the weekend. I'm just too busy. I'd post what I have right now, but I hate giving you super short chapters like that. I feel like it's sort of false advertising - here's a chapter, but it's 1k words! So instead of that, I'll give you an Interlude, which you know will be short. It makes me feel better to give you guys _something._

This correlates with the plot, even though it might not seem like it. It's a teaser for future plot! Like REALLY future plot. So please don't hate me, a chapter is coming out soon. Just not as soon as I was hoping.

Now.. reviews!

CrossoverJunkie and skypeoplephoenix732: I realize Gethen's name is silly. As for the Beowulf reference, I uh.. I have no idea about that. I found his last name on a site that was listing somewhat evil names, and I decided that would do. As for the August confrontation, that sounds really amusing. I'll have to do that, since I feel like August is being a little neglected right now.

Also, the existentialism thing is interesting. Thanks for the info CrossoverJunkie. I'm not sure if I'll include it in the fic, but it does give me something new to think about. I also like the dialogue you give Pitch in your reviews. :) Sometimes you remind me of things I haven't thought about, so keep it up!

SimpleWriter44: Request received and granted! :D

Lighted Candle: Oh good! I'm glad we were on the same wavelength then. You also made me think about Gethen as a person more, rather than just some random evil dude that will cause everyone problems. It made me realize that at one point Gethen probably did use his powers responsibly and helped keep things in balance. He mentioned to Jack in the last actual chapter that he knew Mistral, the former Spirit of Winter. Maybe I'll do a flashback to the both of them at some point. Your idea was super unique! I'm going to have fun with his powers of decay.

 **I have to warn you, this Interlude might be a little confusing. It will make sense later, I promise.**

Interlude 10: Time and Time Again

She sat writing a letter, pausing occasionally to peer over her shoulder a little guiltily. She was told not to do this, that nothing good would come of it.

She looked down at what she had written and bit her lip. How much should she tell them? She knew that the Burgess kids might not be the best at keeping secrets, but she _REALLY_ hoped that they didn't tell the Guardians or Jack about this.

She shuddered as she remembered what had happened. That's what caused all the trouble in the first place. She fingered the necklace she was wearing, the device that had saved them all and caused more trouble than any of them could imagine.

She was surprised that Father Time had let her keep it, but he had told her that she might need it in the future and then incredibly, he had _winked_ at her. Did he know what she wanted to do?

Of course he did. He knew _everything.  
_

She knew that meddling with time was dangerous. So dangerous. But what had happened had been _terrible_ and she had to prevent it if she could. And if she could spare Jamie the burden of this adventure, then she could try her hardest to.

She looked at her letter again and began to read through it.

 _Dear Jamie (and the kids if you're there),_

 _DO NOT LET THE GUARDIANS, PITCH OR JACK FROST SEE THIS._

 _That said, I have something important to tell you. I'm not entirely sure what's going on at the moment, as my recollection of the timing of events is a little hazy. I think you might meet someone called Gethen soon._

 _Let me tell you, he is_ bad _news._

 _Let the Lightning Lass know she should be careful in how she deals out her thunderbolt of justice in dealing with him. If she doesn't heed my warning, then Jamie, I'm sorry to say you'll have your biggest adventure yet._

 _Just make sure that you don't tell the Guardians, Pitch or Jack Frost about it. Because if they do find out, it will be a MESS._

 _Like this could destroy the fabric of time mess. (Thankfully we averted that!)_

 _If you wind up on this adventure, you'll most likely be on your own. Make sure you take your jacket with you, since it will be cold. Do NOT take anything technological with you, like a cell phone._

 _Remember to aim for the year 1968, on Easter Sunday. You should wind up near Jack's lake. You'll want to be just outside the forest. DO NOT LET GETHEN SEE YOU. IF THINGS GO WRONG, DON'T PANIC._

 _You'll know this adventure is beginning when you get Ms. Parker as your English teacher. I know this doesn't make a lot of sense right now, but it will in time._

 _I hope you heed my warnings and advice._

 _Sincerely,_

 _A Friend_

 _P.S. Don't worry, Jack will be alright._

 _P.P.S. Pitch is going to freak out about Jack and Lillian, so if you don't see them for awhile, don't worry._

She reread the letter and nodded to herself. It told them what they needed to know without giving away too much. She only hoped it would be enough, since she wanted this to work out with as few complications as possible.

It was difficult to change the past, they had told her.

But she now knew for a fact that it wasn't impossible.

With that thought in mind, she folded the letter and placed it in an envelope. She wrote Jamie's name on the front in her neatest handwriting and then tucked it into her pocket. She grabbed the necklace, that had a miniature hour glass on it and began to turn it backwards.

* * *

Author's Note: I know, I'm evil. I can't help it. So the thing that our mystery person is using IS related to what you think it is in Harry Potter, but it's not precisely the same. It's a lot farther reaching.

I've included the letter in this Interlude since it is going to turn up in the next actual chapter, but it won't actually effect anything until later in the plot. It's just a little teaser that's going to show up and let you know, there's more adventures to be had!

Also, I hope you don't mind time traveling adventures. I personally despise them, but this idea popped into my head and it's been there forever. It'll also satisfy my "What if THIS happened?" curiosity that I admitted to having earlier.

If you have any ideas for future plot, let me know!


	62. Chapter 52 and One Half: Pen Pal

Author's Note: Augh, the guilt. It buuurns. Ok, so I have half a chapter so far. I kinda wrote myself into a small writer's block, but I know how to continue forward now, I just have to figure out who I want to focus on next as I was going to pause where I was at and skip to someone else, like Mother Nature or Pitch and The Guardians. But then I felt bad for the sort of cliffhanger and thought I should just continue on with Lillian and the kids, but then I wouldn't have time for Mother Nature's investigation, so.. Bah! SO. I decided to just post what I have and I will figure out where to go from there and THEN I will post a Jamie's story chapter and THEN HP chapter, and THEN another Child of Spring and it will go from there.

So this is Chapter 52 and 1/2 and the next chapter can be 52 and 1/2 Part 2 and that will be the end of that. Then there will only be full chapters! Or at least longer ones!

Now for reviews!

CrossoverJunkie guessed that the mysterious letter writer was Katherine and that Father Time was actually Ombric. I'm sorry to say that while Katherine would be an awesome choice, I had already had my mind made up as to who the impulsive letter writer would be. So.. hope you aren't too disappointed there!

SimpleWriter44 told me to keep up the good work, so thank you. :)

Roofscat, I'm glad that you like it even if I do tend to do little Interludes with random things.

Brenne, I'm curious too. Well, I DO have some idea.. Although now I'm wondering if I should draw things out to make it more miserable for poor Jack. What if Gethen actually got Jack to bend to his will?! Oh man, I can just imagine this horrific Winter spreading all over the world and everything in super _chaos_ with Gethen in the middle of it all, and then.. EPIC. BATTLE. With poor Jack being a pawn and unable to help out much. Oh my gosh a showdown in a ginormous blizzard. I think I might have to do that.

The things my mind comes up with in review responses. Anyway, future plotting aside, let's get on with the half a chapter!

Chapter Fifty-Two and 1/2: Pen Pal

Jamie and his friends hadn't gone very far when they heard a sound that sounded somewhat magical, followed by a shriek and a loud thud.

They all stopped and looked at one another, puzzled, before they turned back and took off running. They stopped by Jack's lake, only to see Lillian sprawled out on the ground.

"Ugh, I _hate_ portals," she groaned as she sat up. She brightened however, when she saw Jamie and his friends.

"Hey!" she greeted them cheerfully as she bounced up to her feet. "Have you seen Jack?"

Jamie looked surprised at that.

"Uh.. we were gonna ask you that. We found this cooler by his lake and it has.." Jamie hesitated as he thought of what to call them.

"Fairies!" Pippa interjected.

" _Winter_ fairies, I guess." Jamie said. "They're all white and blue and can make snowflakes."

Lillian brightened at that.

"Those must be the Winter Sprites Jack was going to get from Jasper's!" she said.

"Jasper?" Jamie asked, confused.

"The Spirit of Fall," Lillian clarified.

"There's a fall spirit?" Jamie asked.

Lillian gave him her patented 'duh' look.

"There's a spring and winter spirit, so of _course_ there's a summer and fall spirit too. But what happened to Jack? He wouldn't just leave his Winter Sprites behind."

"Uh, guys?" Pippa interrupted. "Winter fairies melting in the cooler?"

"Oh! Right!" Jamie exclaimed, looking embarrassed. "I was going to put them in my freezer. Come on!"

He hurried off with the cooler, and the other kids and Lillian decided to follow him. Lillian had a snow globe to return, but she knew that if she used it to head back to the Pole, Pitch would put her on lockdown and she'd _never_ get a chance to sneak back out and look for Jack.

Soon they arrived back at Jamie's, and Jamie let them all into his house through the back door. His mom was busy doing whatever, but Jamie had a key to the house to let himself back in.

He knew she wouldn't mind that his friends had stopped by, as long as they didn't make a mess. He stopped by the kitchen to deposit the Winter Sprites' cooler in the freezer, and then they trooped off to the living room to check out the news and see if there were any strange phenomenon going on. Jamie insisted that if Jack could, he'd freeze something again to give them a sign of his whereabouts.

Lillian was a little doubtful, since it had taken both of their combined efforts to pull that off, and she knew it took Jack a lot of energy and time to do so, but she decided to humor the kids anyway.

After channel surfing a bit and finding nothing, Jamie looked a little deflated.

"How are we going to find Jack?" he said sadly.

Lillian frowned as she thought.

"Don't you have a computer thinger that gets news too? You could always look on there," she said to Jamie.

Jamie brightened at that.

"Yeah, I could look online!"

So with that in mind, he and his friends plus Lillian all trooped upstairs. As they were going upstairs, Lillian could have sworn she heard what sounded like footsteps, followed by a strange noise that sounded.. well.. _magical,_ but when they made it upstairs to Jamie's room, they hadn't seen anything and the kids didn't mention hearing anything, so Lillian mentally shrugged and figured she had been hearing things.

With that in mind, Lillian decided to look around for Jamie's book that he was always reading, but paused when she saw a white envelope on Jamie's desk.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked as she went over by it.

She looked at the envelope, but all it said on the front was 'Jamie Bennett' in a very familiar, neat handwriting. She froze as she saw it and stared it.

It.. couldn't be.

It was impossible.

Jamie was busy listening to the startup of his rather slow dial-up connection and didn't hear Lillian's question.

He sighed as he waited and waited for all the noise to stop and the voice to declare: "Welcome! You've got mail!"

Honestly, just because AOL spammed everyone with those discs, did _not_ mean that they had to sign up for it. He tapped his fingers impatiently while he waited, and he hoped he'd be able to talk his mom into getting better internet soon.

"Jamie?" Lillian asked as she picked up the envelope, still staring at the incredibly familiar writing.

"Just a minute," Jamie said dismissively as it _finally_ looked like AOL was finished connecting.

Lillian frowned at that and resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. She looked back down at the envelope and feeling defiant, ripped it open and pulled out the letter inside.

As she began to read it, her mouth dropped open in surprise.

It read:

 _Dear Jamie (and the kids if you're there),_

 _DO NOT LET THE GUARDIANS, PITCH OR JACK FROST SEE THIS._

 _That said, I have something important to tell you. I'm not entirely sure what's going on at the moment, as my recollection of the timing of events is a little hazy. I think you might meet someone called Gethen soon._

 _Let me tell you, he is_ bad _news._

 _Let the Lightning Lass know she should be careful in how she deals out her thunderbolt of justice in dealing with him. If she doesn't heed my warning, then Jamie, I'm sorry to say you'll have your biggest adventure yet._

 _Just make sure that you don't tell the Guardians, Pitch or Jack Frost about it. Because if they do find out, it will be a MESS._

 _Like this could destroy the fabric of time mess. (Thankfully we averted that!)_

 _If you wind up on this adventure, you'll most likely be on your own. Make sure you take your jacket with you, since it will be cold. Do NOT take anything technological with you, like a cell phone._

 _Remember to aim for the year 1968, on Easter Sunday. You should wind up near Jack's lake. You'll want to be just outside the forest. DO NOT LET GETHEN SEE YOU. IF THINGS GO WRONG, DON'T PANIC._

 _You'll know this adventure is beginning when you get Ms. Parker as your English teacher. I know this doesn't make a lot of sense right now, but it will in time._

 _I hope you heed my warnings and advice._

 _Sincerely,_

 _A Friend_

 _P.S. Don't worry, Jack will be alright._

 _P.P.S. Pitch is going to freak out about Jack and Lillian, so if you don't see them for awhile, don't worry._

Lillian blinked as she read the name, Ms. _Parker._

That name sparked a memory and she paused, then stared at the letter.

 _Parker was her last name._

Could Ms. Parker be a long-lost relative? Did she have any family left?

She wondered suddenly if this Ms. Parker wrote the letter. That would explain the handwriting, since she knew that some relatives had similar handwriting.

Her heart beating fast, she wondered how the letter writer knew about Pitch.. and the Guardians, as well as the Burgess kids.

And who was this Gethen?!

Lillian reread the letter, pausing at the part about the Lightning Lass. Jack was the only one who knew about their special superhero nicknames. She had never even told Pitch about that. She doubt he even remembered that he had once made them those costumes all those years ago.

Lillian bit her lip.

This was too weird.

"..Jamie.." Lillian said, her voice uncertain. "Um.. I think you need to see this."

At Lillian's tone, Jamie finally looked up from his frustrating weather search. The problem with looking up unusual weather, was that there was unusual weather _everywhere_ right now. People were even saying that the world was ending. Not good.

"What?" he said as he looked over at Lillian, who he noticed was looking worried and pale.

Wordlessly, Lillian walked over to him and the other kids and held out the strange letter.

The kids all crowded around Jamie and read over his shoulder. When he and the kids finished reading it, they all looked at each other and then over at Lillian.

"What does this mean?" Jamie asked.

"..I.. I don't know," Lillian said, looking troubled. "But.. the thing is.."

"Yeah?" Jamie prodded her.

Lillian took a deep breath.

"The thing is.." she continued. "That's my handwriting. And I didn't write that letter."

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, so.. I dunno if any of you guys remember the horrible dial-up of forever ago, but in the late 90's my family got our first computer and it had AOL. I remember very vividly that my mom would zoom the mouse around the screen while waiting for that magically annoying dial-up sound to finish and for the screen to finally load. And since I had to suffer through it, I felt like Jamie should too. We had a moment when we were on cable internet and then had to go BACK to dial-up, so I figured Jamie's mom got some spammy AOL disc in the mail and decided to try it (not understanding the horrors of dial-up internet) and to Jamie's HORROR he suddenly had dial-up.

I also wasn't sure if anyone picked up on the super huge hint in the last Interlude about any last names, and since Lillian would notice that right away, I stuck that in there.

Also, if you were confused on what I'm going to be working on next, I will be doing Chapter 52 and 1/2 Part 2 next for sure and then continuing on with the other fics.

If you guys have any ideas about anything, especially if you have any input on what you would like to see next, please let me know! And I'm sorry the chapter was so short.


	63. The Rest of Fifty-Two: Winter's Decay

Author's Note: I don't know what's wrong with me. I have cliffhanger's disease, I swear. But even though this story is.. erm.. taking forever to be written, you'll know that eventually I will continue on with it. At leas the other half of Chapter Fifty-Two is now done. I hope you like it, and I hope it isn't too predictable. That said, thank you guys for all your reviews and no, dial up did NOT take 40 minutes to load.

Now.. for what you've all been waiting for!

Chapter Fifty-Two and One Half: Winter's Decay

Meanwhile, after Sandy and Pitch had left the throne room at Mother Nature's Palace, Mother Nature decided to investigate the strange weather phenomenon herself. She knew that this wasn't due to shifting weather patterns or El Nino, or whatever else the humans were coming up with.

She could tell that this was due to either the Seasonals themselves, or else their Sprites or Spirits. It had Seasonal magic all over it. Since the worst of it was from the oppressive heat and Summer magic, she made her way to California, since she knew that was the place that August liked best, besides his own home.

Thankfully due to her own powers, she was able to disappear and reappear at will and so it took her no time at all to reappear at a popular beach in California. She looked around at all the sunburned tourists and peered out at the crowded waves, but she could see no sign of August or his Sprites. But what she could see was that this sort of weather was _very_ warm and that it felt more like Florida than anything, since it was very muggy out was well.

She frowned at the unnaturalness of it all, as it was really not quite Summer yet and still the very tail end of Spring. She looked around in disgust, since she knew that August's Sprites were to blame, she was sure of it. She knew that both August and Jasper were having troubles with missing Sprites and Spirits, but she wasn't certain what could cause such a large amount to defect like that. Surely this must be their work.

She swept her gaze around the crowded beach again, but not spotting anything that could be of help, she soon disappeared. After a few more trips to crowded beaches and not spying her Summer Seasonal, she decided that a trip to August's home was in order. It was an unusual experience for even her, as she usually didn't visit the Seasonals at their homes.

If she had, she would have discovered that poor Jack was living at a _lake_ of all places, and had no true home. She also would have discovered that he was living with Pitch quite a few years earlier. But she didn't think of this as she traveled to August's house, since it just wasn't done. When it was time for their meeting or if the Seasonals had any concerns, they would come see her. It was just how it was done.

She looked around with interest as she appeared at August's island home. It was a small island near Greece, but since it was covered in so much Summer Seasonal magic, there was no chance of the humans discovering it by accident. Well, at least for now, Mother Nature mused. She knew that human technology was getting more advanced as the years went on.

She knew if August's island was ever discovered, he'd have a hard time trying to keep any developers away. A small smile formed as she thought of August as he was now, all polished tan and blond curls, looking like every storybook version of a Greek Sun God and then pictured him chasing after humans shouting at them to keep off his land!

She shook her head for a moment and then frowned at August's Summer home. It certainly looked like the home of a Greek Sun God. It was all fancy arches and columns with a lot of marble and fine furnishings and open buildings that were completely inadequate for any kind of weather except for a very hot summer day.

She saw a few Summer Sprites were lounging about, looking rather forlorn and gloomy, but noticed a distinct lack of Summer Spirits. She also didn't see August anywhere, so she assumed he must be out performing duties of some sort.

She placed her hands on her hips in consternation, as not even she could understand the language of Summer, and therefore wouldn't be able to speak to the Summer Sprites herself. She was also a little vexed by the lavishness of August's home. She knew he had long since changed from the Summer Spirit he had started out as, but this was getting ridiculous. She wondered if she would ever see any trace of the simple farmer ever again, and sighed.

It would certainly be more easier to deal with the hardworking August she had known, rather than the playboy August she had to deal with now. For his sake, she hoped that he was off doing some investigating of his own or else she would be very displeased.

The world was falling apart before their eyes and he had better _not_ be off playing.

Deciding to look elsewhere, she vanished before she spotted what looked like a golden bench of some sort and gave a snort.

 _Honestly._

* * *

August was still busy searching for Marin when Mother Nature was looking for him. Having exhausted Marin's favorite places in California though, he began to grow doubtful. What if he never found her? What if something had happened to her and she faded?

Not that he would ever admit it, but Marin was one of his favorite Spirits. She might pass for a typical California beach girl, but she was very smart and hardworking. And unlike most of his Sprites and Spirits, her dress was in different shades of blue and her eyes were the ocean itself - and he did so love the ocean.

He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. He knew Seasonals weren't supposed to have favorites, but still. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he thought of giving her a surfing lesson. Now that would be fun!

But his smile soon faded as he thought of what he could do next. It was as he was standing on a remote beach in the more southern part of California that he spotted an unnatural blue dashing about. His eyes lit up as he spotted his Spirit.

Marin!

Then his face darkened as he realized she was using her Summer Magic out of Season. Why was she helping this unnatural weather?

With a determined look on his face, August began to make his way toward her.

* * *

"We'll see about that," Gethen said as he snapped his fingers at the two Spring Spirits. They leaped at Jack and soon had a hold of his arms.

Gethen walked up to Jack and relieved him of his staff again. He moved away from Jack and twirled the staff.

"I wonder.." he said thoughtfully as he stopped twirling Jack's staff and looked at it. His eyes lit up with dark amusement and he grinned slyly at Jack. "What do you think would happen if I did.. _this?_ "

Jack watched in horror as Gethen's hands began to glow, and his staff, which once was frosty with his winter magic, began to decay and look very fragile. It looked like the very strength was being sapped right out of it.

Jack made an awful, strangled noise as his staff started to slowly disintegrate. This was even worse then when his staff had been broken. He had been able to fix that. But now his staff was _disintegrating_ and it felt like a very piece of his soul was fading away with it.

It was _awful_.

"Stop..!" Jack exclaimed, his voice filled with pain.

"Will you join me?" Gethen asked as bit by bit, the staff began to crumble away into dust.

"..N..no.." Jack said, as he closed his eyes. He couldn't stand to see his poor staff suffer like that.

Gethen gave Jack a look that he didn't see.

"Then why should I stop?" he said condescendingly to Jack as he channeled more of his destructive power into the staff.

"..Urgh..!" Jack replied, squeezing his eyes shut more in pain.

This was not going well.

He knew he could use his powers without his staff, but it took a _lot_ of concentration. And right now, it felt like a part of him was _dying_.

Gethen watched Jack struggle for a few more moments before he rolled his eyes, tiring of tormenting the Winter Spirit.

"Pathetic!" he said as now more than half the staff was gone. "If you won't save your precious staff, or the use of your powers, then what about your Spirits and Sprites?"

"..What..?" Jack said faintly as his eyes snapped open. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, either you join me or I will make certain that every last Winter Spirit and Sprite fades off the face of the Earth."

The Winter Spirit who had been rescued by Jack edged away from Gethen nervously at that.

"You wouldn't," Jack said as he gritted his teeth.

" _Try me_ ," Gethen hissed dangerously at the Winter Spirit.

"Well the joke's on you," Jack said to Gethen with a hint of dark amusement. It was a little funny, but not really. "I can't use my powers without my staff, so I couldn't help you even if I wanted to."

Gethen however, didn't seem the least bit worried by this.

"Oh, I have my ways," he said to Jack. "So, Frost. Are you in or do I destroy the last bit of Winter?"

Jack looked over at his frightened Spirits and Sprites.

What should he do?

* * *

"Ok, I'm kinda freaking out," Lillian said as she looked over at the kids.

" _You're_ freaking out?" Jamie asked incredulously. "I don't even know what this means! What kind of adventure am I going on? And who is Gethen?!"

Gethen..

Lillian thought hard about the letter.

The letter writer had warned them that they would soon meet this 'Gethen' person, whoever he was. It also warned Lillian that she should be careful in how she fried his butt, but why would she do that?

Jack was missing.. and she would soon meet this Gethen person and fry his pants off.

She blinked as the pieces clicked together.

What if this Gethen person was evil and had Jack? But why would he take Jack? And how would she find him anyway?

It wasn't like she could just say 'Gethen's lair' and magically teleport there or any -

Wait a minute.

The snowglobe!

"You know what?" Lillian said to Jamie as she plucked the letter from his hands, folded it up and stashed it away in her pocket. "I think I should get going. Even if I shouldn't warn the Guardians about uh.. whatever the letter person was talking about, I can still tell them about this Gethen guy, right?"

Jamie looked disappointed at that.

"You're leaving?"

Lillian nodded.

"Well, yeah. I still have to find Jack!"

"But.. I wanted to help," Jamie said, looking crushed. Jack was his friend too!

Lillian felt bad about leaving Jamie out, but there was absolutely no _way_ she was taking him with her.

"You can help us next time," she promised as she edged her way out the door.

Before Jamie could reply to that, she had dashed out of the room and was halfway downstairs before Jamie leaped up and followed after her.

Lillian didn't hear Jamie's footsteps following her as she made her way out the front door. Once she was outside, she pulled out the snowglobe and hoped she was right.

After all, the snowglobes didn't need the exact coordinates or anything.

She took a deep breath and whispered to the snowglobe.

"Take me to Gethen's lair," she said softly to it.

A very dark and gloomy place appeared in the snowglobe and she tossed it and it turned into a magical portal.

"I really hope that Jack is there," she said nervously to herself as she ran towards the portal.

As she leaped inside, she was startled to hear Jamie's voice right behind her.

"Wait for me!" he cried.

"Omigosh JAMIE!" Pippa cried out, as she and the other kids had followed after him. "What are you _doing?!_ "

Pippa had started running towards the portal too, but it was too late.

She watched in horror as Jamie vanished right behind Lillian in the portal.

"Good thing Lillian's only going to the North Pole," Cupcake pointed out.

"..Right," Pippa agreed. But why did she have such an uneasy feeling about it?

* * *

Author's Note: If you're wondering why Lillian didn't go to the Guardians with this, it's because Pitch would toss her in her room so fast she wouldn't have even had time to explain anything, or so she thought. So her reasoning is that she can quick pop in to Gethen's lair and look for Jack. If he's there, great! If he's not.. run! She can always just use her Flower of Doom to -

Yeah, she didn't think that one out, did she? :P If you guys have any plot suggestions, just let me know. Sorry for yet another cliffhanger, but it will get continued. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what the area surrounding Gethen's lair should look like? I'm kinda envisioning something like Murky and Lurky's place in Rainbow Brite, all dark and gloomy but way more sinister. Hm!

So what do you think Jack will do? Do you think he'll give in Gethen, if not for his own sake, then to protect his poor Spirits and Sprites? And will Lillian and Jamie reach him in time?!

Dun dun duuun.


	64. Chapter 53: Winter's Plight & Spring

Author's Note: Ok, I lied. But c'mon, you were expecting it. I wrote a short chapter for Child of Spring, so yay! I'd say sorry for the cliffhanger, but you were expecting that too. :)

I want to give a special thanks to my two reviewers on the last chapter, Brenne and CrossoverJunkie! And thanks for letting me know you were on vacation, CrossoverJunkie. I should have known you wouldn't abandon this, even if it does take me forever to write chapters sometimes. Also, thanks for the idea on slowing down decay. I admit that never even crossed my mind, but I'll keep it in mind for next time.

Also a big thanks to the follows and faves! Now without further ado, the next chapter!

Chapter Fifty-Three: Winter's Plight/Spring is Stuck

The thing about traveling by a snow globe was that sometimes they took you right where you wanted them to and sometimes they didn't. For instance, when you used a snow globe to appear at the North Pole, the portal would always appear right near the globe room. You knew that you would be safe and warm.

If you took a snow globe to the Tooth Fairy's Palace, the portal would sometimes appear a short distance away from the Palace. Nobody knew why, but it did. So unless you had some way to fly, you were in for a bit of walk.

When Lillian told the snow globe to take her to Gethen's lair, she assumed that the portal would appear right smack in the middle of Gethen's lair and there Gethen would be, ready to answer her questions. What actually happened was that the portal appeared a few feet off the ground and Gethen was nowhere in sight.

Lillian screamed as she fell to the ground with a thud. She was a little dazed by the fall, but still had the presence of mind to roll out of the way when she saw Jamie coming. Soon Jamie fell right beside her with another thud and then the portal vanished.

"J-Jamie!" Lillian said, trying to catch her breath as she sat up. "What are you doing here?!"

"Ugh," Jamie replied as he stared up at the very overcast and gloomy sky. He sat up slowly and rubbed his head. "I wanted to help," he said. "Besides, you said you were going to the North Pole. What is this place?"

As he looked around in bewilderment, he could see that they were _definitely_ not at the North Pole. The place was in varying shades of brown and gray and everything looked dead and withered. It looked almost like the life was sucked out of everything.

"I told the snow globe to take me to Gethen's lair," Lillian admitted, looking embarrassed at being caught in her lie. "I never thought you would tag along! This could be dangerous, you know. You should have stayed home."

"Jack's my friend too," Jamie said with a pout. "That's all we ever do is wait at home while you guys get to do all the interesting stuff! Remember Easter? We helped out then!"

Lillian winced at the reminder and looked down at her lap.

"..No.." she said quietly. "..I don't really remember. Everything about that is still kind of fuzzy. I just remember waking up on the lake, and Jack.. and.. and Pitch.."

She stopped as her voice wavered. She had never seen Jack look so.. un-Jacklike before and Pitch..

She thought he had been...

A wave of homesickness suddenly hit her as she realized she missed living with Jack and Pitch at Pitch's lair. She missed her room, and her home.

She missed her family.

Jamie looked at Lillian guiltily as he watched her. She looked so sad now, and definitely like a lost little kid.

Way to go Jamie.

"Hey, um.. I'm sorry.." he trailed off awkwardly.

Lillian shook her head and discreetly wiped her eyes.

"Well, I guess you're in this adventure now. We have to find this Gethen guy's lair and see if he has Jack or knows where he is," Lillian said as she got to her feet.

Jamie stood as well and looked around at the bleak landscape. There weren't a lot of plants and there was a whole lot of dead grass. Everything was flat and there didn't seem to be anything around that looked like a lair of any sort.

"Then what?" Jamie asked her.

"Then what what?" Lillian blinked at him.

"What will we do after that?" Jamie clarified.

"Then we go home," Lillian said with a sinking feeling.

 _How_ were they going to get home in the first place? She didn't have any more snow globes and she still hadn't gotten her bracelet from Mother Nature yet.

Whoops.

Weeell.. Maybe Gethen would have some way of traveling that they could borrow or something. They'd figure it out.

Either that or Jack could fly them all out of there.

Yeah!

Lillian brightened a little at that and after waving at Jamie to follow her, she chose a direction and began walking.

They could do this.

They _would_ find Jack.

* * *

As if to make his point, Gethen grabbed a hold of the Winter Spirit that was still outside of the cage. His hand glowed and the spirit cried out as he started to fade again.

"STOP IT!" Jack shouted in anguish.

Gethen looked at Jack, eerily calm.

"Well?"

Jack bowed his head. He couldn't believe this was happening.. And this time there was no Pitch to make him all evil. He'd be doing this of his own free will.

 _I hope the others will understand,_ he thought desperately.

He very reluctantly nodded.

"..I'll.. I'll do it," he said without looking at his other sprites.

 _No!_ they cried out. _Don't do it!_

Gethen smiled evilly at Jack.

"I thought you might see things my way," he smirked.

He released the Winter Spirit and the spirit, who had been fading, came back to himself slowly.

The spirit shuddered at almost fading _again._

Gethen looked down at the remnants of Jack's staff and walked over to where Jack was still being held by the Spring Spirits. He passed the staff off to the male spring spirit.

"Here," Gethen said giving it to the confused spirit. Gethen rolled his eyes when he saw the spirit had no idea why Gethen had given him the staff. "It's _wood._ You make things grow, moron. Fix it!"

Jack's mouth dropped open in surprise as he stared at the spirit.

"You can do that?!" Jack exclaimed.

The Spirit looked down at the staff dubiously.

"Maybe?" he said, staring down at it. It didn't look particularly growable. But after a quick glance at the darkening expression on Gethen's face, the spirit hastily tapped into his powers, which caused his hands to glow a spring green.

He concentrated hard on the staff, pouring more and more spring magic into it. Very slowly, the staff started to grow, the decomposition fading into newer wood. After what felt like forever to Jack, the staff had regrown to its normal length, but it looked.. off.

The top half looked older than it should, having been touched by Gethen's decomposition and the bottom half looked like brand new wood, like the staff had just been carved.

"Uh.." Jack said, as he stared it.

The Spring Spirit shrugged apologetically.

"It's the best I can do," he said.

He handed the staff over to Jack, who took it.

Jack looked at his once beloved staff and hugged it gently. His poor staff. It had already been broken once and now half of it had rotted away. Would it work the same as always?

After a comforting hug, he pulled the staff away and held it like he usually did. He took a deep breath and pushed some of his winter magic into it. He frowned when the wood seemed to give a protesting shudder, but then it frosted over as it usually did. It still didn't look right, with the top half looking older than old and the bottom half looking brand new.

Maybe he could paint it or something.

He gently tapped the staff on the ground and frost patterns swirled on the floor. He suddenly took aim at a wall and a bolt of strong, deep blue winter magic hit it and the wall froze over.

Jack looked down at his staff. It seemed to hold up from the use of it, but he wasn't sure. As he was taking stock of his staff, Jack realized that horrible feeling was gone. He no longer felt like his soul was being torn in two. But he didn't feel quite whole either.

He hugged his staff again, wishing that Pitch were there.

"Excellent!" Gethen said with a grin. "Now here's what I want you to do."

* * *

August stormed up to Marin and grabbed her by the arm.

"Wha?!" she exclaimed and then noticed the serious expression on August's face and his eyes which seemed to practically glow in his anger.

"August!" she gasped.

"Marin," he said coldly. "What are you doing?"

Marin's lip trembled and she looked down, ignoring the vice-like grip August had on her arm.

"..I had to.." she said softly as her voice trembled a bit. "You don't understand..!"

August huffed in annoyance.

"What I _understand_ is that you're working out of season. _No one_ works out of season. Mother Nature is going to have my head over this!"

He shouted, shaking Marin a bit in his anger.

Tears sparkled in Marin's ocean blue eyes as August's anger broke over her.

"H-He was going to kill them..! To make them fade!"

August paused in mid-rant to stare at her.

"What?"

"G-Gethen.. he's.. he was going to kill the Seasonal Sprites.. He's got Spirits t-too.." Marin said as tears fell down her cheeks. August had never yelled at her like that before. He'd never been so frightening. "..From all the seasons.."

August cursed and released Marin's arm.

"That no good.." he grumbled, trailing off. He ran a hand through his wavy locks and looked around. All this nonsense was going to give him wrinkles, he just knew it.

"I suppose we'll have to tell - " he started, but then stopped as clouds seemed to appear out of nowhere. He noticed the temperature was rapidly dropping and gaped as the first snowflakes started to fall.

* * *

The kids, not knowing what to do, had retreated back into Jamie's house since the Winter Sprites were still in Jamie's freezer and they weren't sure when Jamie was coming back.

They had turned on the tv again to see if they could find anything unusual and were surprised to see that there were several weather reports on a variety of stations. They gaped at the radar that was showing a rainbow of colors. The little of Canada that was showing said "SEVERE HEAT WARNING" while California was awash in pink and blue, but was rapidly being covered in purple.

The purple seemed to be radiating outward from California and the weatherman sounded completely baffled as to why this was happening in _California_ of all places.

"Do you think it's Jack?" Pippa asked anxiously.

"Who else could make it snow in California?" Monty asked.

"..I don't like this," Caleb admitted.

"I hope Jamie's ok," Cupcake said with a sigh as she stared at the tv.

* * *

Jamie looked up at the sky while they were walking. They sky had already been gloomy and now the clouds seemed to darken as the temperature dropped. They had been walking for what felt like forever now, but it really had only been a half an hour or so. Lillian couldn't believe they'd been dropped off so far away from Gethen's actual lair, but maybe the snowglobe didn't quite know where it was either.

Jamie, who was watching the sky more than where they were going gasped as a flash of blue zoomed by overhead.

"JACK!" he shouted. "It's Jack Frost!"

Jamie started waving his arms frantically.

"JAAACK!" he shouted as loud as he could.

Lillian started and looked up at the sky.

A slow grin spread on her face as she saw the familiar blue hoodie of Jack.

"Jack!" she shouted up at him, but Jack didn't seem to hear. Or did he? She thought she saw Jack glance down at them. In fact, she knew Jack had seen them since he did a double take.

But Jack didn't seem to want to stop as he flew even faster, as if he were running away from something.

Jack, who had left Gethen's lair to go spread snow _very_ out of season in California, didn't want to have to stop and explain things to Lillian. He bit his lip in worry as he could tell Lillian and Jamie were headed right towards Gethen's lair.

What was he going to do? He had to save his sprites, but now Lillian and Jamie would be in danger. Could he somehow spread word to the Guardians? And what about the two Winter Sprites he had inadvertently abandoned?

He sighed as he silently urged Wind to help him go faster.

 _I hope they'll be alright._ Jack wished with all his might.

Lillian glanced back at Jamie.

"..He.. ignored us," she said softly to him.

"I know," Jamie said, sounding very disappointed. "What are we going to do?"

Lillian stopped walking.

"..I.. I don't know.. I was hoping Jack would be there and he could give us a lift home with his Wind." she admitted.

"Well, if this Gethen guy is bad news we probably don't want to go to his lair," Jamie said as he thought things over. "We were only going there to save Jack, right?"

"Right," Lillian said gloomily. "But I don't have a snowglobe to get back home."

"What about your powers?" Jamie asked.

Lillian shook her head.

"I don't have my bracelet and without it, it's very hard for me to control my powers."

Jamie looked around at the bleak landscape and shivered. He was in a t-shirt and shorts and now it was snowing out.

"So we're stuck here?" he asked, as he felt the first flickers of fear. If they didn't get out of there soon, there was a chance this Gethen guy could find them or else they'd freeze.

Lillian frowned at where Jack had gone in frustration.

"If we could contact the Guardians, maybe someone could come get us."

Jamie thought furiously for a few minutes, before his face lit up in triumph.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed.

* * *

Author's Note: This is a little bit of a filler chapter. Unless the next one gets completely derailed from me, that should be the one where it has some action. Since they've been all neglected for awhile, the next one will have some of the Pitch/Guardians in it, doing their thing. Mother Nature still has to give Lillian back her bracelet too. I wonder if Lillian will get it back in time?

Also, anyone have any guesses on what Jamie's plan is? I already know, I'm not fishing for hints. :) But if you guys have any other suggestions, that would be nice.

Since right now I'm on a roll with Child of Spring, my next update might be for it. Either that or the HP one, since I have a vibe for HP right now. Jamie's ghostyness will be updated eventually, don't worry.


	65. Interlude 11: Dream a Little Dream

Author's Note: Sorry about not posting in forever. I have stuff going on and plot has been the last thing on my mind lately. So I'm very sorry about leaving you all hanging. I hate updates that are only Author's Notes, so I did a little interlude with a tiny bit of plot thrown in. I also wanted to throw something in about Halloween, since Halloween is coming up. So anyway, now you now I'm alive. Yay! I won't say when the next update will be, since I have no idea. I'm thinking the next update will be for the HP one though, since I'm super excited for what's happening next in that one. I am for Child of Spring too, but.. you know. Harry Potter! :P Anywho, if you have any suggestions for anything, feel free to let me know. I'm pretty sure this interlude goes along with Lillian's memories, since I don't recall mentioning any Halloweens..

Interlude 11: Sweet Dreams

Lillian would have been surprised to discover she had actually managed to fall asleep. She wasn't entirely certain that Jamie's plan was going to work, since they were out in the middle of nowhere, but he had seen it as their only option.

Lillian had been tense and worried until she fell asleep. Now she wasn't worried about anything, since was no longer mentally an adult trapped in a child's body. She didn't have any worries at all.

She was five years old again and it was Halloween. She was currently wearing a tattered black cape over her favorite pink dress that was more patches than dress. The cape had been salvaged out of the trash, and she had topped off her odd outfit with a little witch hat. To collect all the candy, she had a plastic bag she had found. Perhaps it wasn't the best costume, but it was all she had.

Her father had been in a horrible mood all day, despite the fact her mother had tried very hard to keep Lillian quiet and make sure nothing disturbed him. Lillian had gone downstairs to get a snack out of the kitchen, when he grabbed her by the arm and roared at her that he didn't want to hear all her noise, and then he'd tossed her outside like a sack of potatoes and slammed the door shut.

This might have upset Lillian normally, but today was Halloween and she couldn't believe her luck. Normally her father didn't allow her to do anything fun on the holidays.

She remembered last year when she had been forced outside and decided to roam around town (she knew all about how to cross a street, since her mother had ingrained it into her at a young age), and had overheard some kids talking about a scary ghost guy who appeared on Halloween.

Lillian thought she might have seen him this Halloween, but he didn't look particularly scary to her. Tall, wearing a black robe. Looked kinda bony and carried a big, pointy stick. She didn't say anything to him as she went past, since she knew most adults didn't like to hear noisy kids (or so her father had her believing), but she thought she heard him muttering about pesky wizards.

So Lillian spent a fun-filled night collecting as much candy as she could. Other kids had started to go home, but she wanted to stay out later.

It was a few hours later that she thought she had seem something golden flying in the sky. Lillian stared up at the sky with wide eyes. If she were braver, she might have stuck around to see what it was, but suddenly she realized how dark it was outside and how no one was around.

So instead she ran all the way home, her cape streaming out behind her.

Sandy watched young Lillian run away as he sat there up in the air, perched on his golden cloud like always.

He smiled sadly at the child. He hadn't meant to frighten her. As Lillian disappeared inside, he nodded to himself that he would give her extra sweet dreams tonight to make up for it. With that, he began to send out his streams of dreamsand.

* * *

Lillian woke up with a gasp at the dream that wasn't really a dream, but an old memory resurfacing. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, remembering the scary golden thing in the sky. She realized suddenly that wasn't frightening at all, it had been Sandy!

She shook her curls out of her face that had escaped the ribbon she usually had them tied back in, and wondered how many of the Guardians had known her before. She looked down as she remembered those unhappy times, when she only believed in a few of the Guardians anyway.

Her head snapped up when she heard a questioning tweet. She realized it was still dark out and she spotted Baby Tooth, holding Jamie's former loose tooth.

Lillian grinned as she spotted the little fairy. Their plan worked!

* * *

Author's Note: P.S. I threw that little tiny bit with Death in there for you CrossoverJunkie! :)


	66. Interlude 12: Halloween Past

Author's Note: Thanks for the review CrossoverJunkie! I know absolutely nothing about DnD, but that does sound pretty much like August. Anywho, I wrote a more proper Interlude for Halloween. It's a little short, but I picked a random 2000 year for it to take place in and wound up with 2001, and as I looked up movies that came out that year.. Lo and behold. Harry Potter! So I amused myself with Lillian's and Jack's costumes for that year and threw in a little plotting Pitch and some Sandy, and there you go. Even though not much at all is happening in it I hope you still enjoy it anyway. I can just imagine Jack trying to be all wizardly and wise.

Interlude 12: Halloween Past

Lillian looked down at her handiwork and grinned. She had "found" a pumpkin and just "happened" to also find a pumpkin carving kit to go with it and brought it home. This might be news if this was the first pumpkin she had brought home that year, but it wasn't. It was several years before 2012, and now Pitch's lair looked even spookier than ever, with the eerie glow of all the Jack O'lanterns lighting up every dark corner.

They were _everywhere._

Pitch hadn't protested too much about this development, as he was still a little distracted as of late, but he had found the time to still make her and Jack's Halloween costumes that year.

Lillian was extra excited about her costume this year, since _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ was due to come out next month and she had been waiting _forever_ for that. So in honor of the upcoming movie, she was going as none other than Hermione Granger, and Jack was going as Albus Dumbledore, since he refused to dye his hair or wear a wig that was in any other color than his natural hair color.

Lillian still rolled her eyes at this, since Hermione Granger and _Dumbledore?_ It was more than a little strange. But she didn't care, she was all decked out in her Hogwarts Gryffindor robes as she put the finishing touches on the final Jack O'lantern. It was a silhouette of Pitch, holding a scythe ready to attack. She thought it was pretty good. This one she left in her room, after lighting it.

She smiled at it and then twirled around in her robes, her brown curls flying all over the place. She didn't even have to wear a wig to get the Hermione hair either. All she had to do was not comb her hair that day and the curls and the frizz did the rest. Pitch wasn't overly pleased about Lillian's hair, but Lillian had explained that Hermione had very busy hair.

Lillian even had covered a book with a fake book cover for _Hogwarts: A History.  
_

Jack had a little stuffed red parrot that was supposed to be Fawkes, that he glued onto the shoulder of his purple robes. Lillian thought he looked hilarious with long white hair and a matching long white beard.

Her favorite part of the costumes besides the robes, were the wands. Sandy had overheard two desperate wishes for some Harry Potter wands, and might have slipped in a word to Phil, since North was quite busy with the preparations for Christmas. So it was an excited Jack that had gone to Pitch's one day to show Lillian the two perfect wands he had found just sitting there on his frozen lake.

Lillian wasn't sure if they were accurate, since she had no idea what Hermione's wand looked like, or Dumbledore's, but she had to admit.. They looked very _wizardly._

She swished her wand around and pretended to cast a few spells for a little while, before she realized what time it was and dashed outside.

"Don't forget your cloak!" Pitch called out as he heard the small stampede that was Lillian.

Lillian wanted to pout at this, since who wanted to wear what was essentially their coat over their Halloween costume? But Lillian didn't have a coat, she had a black cloak that would actually kinda go with her costume.

So she raced outside after grabbing her cloak to see a rather impatient Jack waiting on her.

"I thought you didn't like trick or treating," Lillian said innocently. She knew Jack felt weird about being seen on this night, since he wasn't used to regular people seeing him at all.

But she felt it was good for Jack and so she made him dress up with her every year and go out. Ever since the incident with the scary house though, they made sure to avoid that.

Jack gave her a smile (or tried to, that beard was mostly covering his mouth up) and ruffled her curls.

"And miss out on all that candy?" Jack replied. Before Lillian could say anything else, he called out "Race you there!" and took off like a shot.

"No fair!" Lillian cried, as what was supposed to be an old man was beating the pants off her. She took off after him, not noticing the pair of golden eyes watching them from the shadow of a tree as the sun started to go down.

Pitch stared after the retreating forms of Jack and Lillian and wondered how the time flew by. It seemed like only yesterday that he was comforting the small shivering form in the snow.. and then not long after, sewing her her first costume.

The eyes looked a little wistful for a moment, before a stamp of a hoof and a soft neigh caught his attention.

The Nightmare stepped towards him as he withdrew from the shadow he used to spy on Lillian and Jack, and Pitch hurried to shoo it back to the room he had designated for them. Soon the world would know all about his Nightmares and their wondrous powers, but he still didn't have enough of the black sand yet. He still needed a little more.

As Lillian and Jack raced off into the night, Pitch let his thoughts drift back to his plan to take down the Guardians.

An evil grin flittered across his face as he thought of what that night would finally be like.

* * *

Author's Note: Hope you guys liked it, even though it had no actual plot happening. I'm not sure how often I'll update as I still have stuff going on, but I can shoot for some small updates.


	67. Chapter 54: Pitch's Realization

Author's Note: I knooow I said this chapter would have the action in it, but I want to do it justice. So here is a bit of a filler chapter that shows you a bit of everyone. I want to thank the couple of reviewers who gave me multiple reviews as they read the story. I'm glad you guys like it! I also want to thank my other reviewers and I promise there's more action in the next chapter. This is just a small chapter to show you I'm still alive and I haven't given up on the story. :) In fact, I reread my "Time and Time Again" interlude and can't wait for the next part of the story. I promise not to rush this to get to it though.

Now, without further ado!

Chapter Fifty-Four: Pitch's Realization

Lillian woke up in the middle of the night with thoughts of Halloween swirling around in her mind. Which was pretty strange now that she thought of it, since it was still late spring and not quite summer.. right?

As she rubbed her eyes sleepily, she saw Baby Tooth looking at her inquisitively, holding Jamie's former loose tooth. She grinned at Baby Tooth. Their plan had worked!

Baby Tooth started to chirp excitedly, but Lillian quickly shushed her while glancing at Jamie's sleeping form. She bit her lip when she saw that he looked cold. The ground had been lightly dusted with snow except for where they were, since Lillian had been able to use her powers a little to at least keep the snow away from their little area.

In a whisper, Lillian hurriedly explained their situation to Baby Tooth and how they needed a lift back home. Baby Tooth gave them a rather stern look as Lillian finished up her explanation.

Lillian looked sheepish at that.

"Look, we really have to get out of here! It's cold and I have to go find Jack."

Baby Tooth nodded as she saw that Lillian and Jamie were both shivering.

Baby Tooth chirped that she would hurry as fast as she could, before she flew off.

* * *

Pitch was beyond worried. He had been very worried about Jack's whereabouts ever since they had found out that Jack and gone missing after visiting Jasper's forest. And now there were reports all over the world of even _more_ strange weather. It was beyond frustrating.

Not to mention, he had just gone in to check on Lillian and now she was missing too! He couldn't believe she had managed to sneak away when North had placed yeti guards at her door.

He stomped his feet as he paced the floor, ignoring his duties yet again as he glared at the globe.

Then he paused and looked at the globe.

The globe that held the belief of every child in the world.. Including two child spirits.

He almost smacked his forehead in disbelief.

They had _all_ forgotten that Jack and Lillian showed up on the globe as glowing blue lights.

Deciding to yell at North later for not thinking of this, Pitch hastily began searching the globe.

He saw one blue light that was growing dimmer as it seemed to be moving rapidly across North America. With how fast it was traveling, that had to be Jack.

But where was Lillian?

Pitch searched all over the globe, and finally found her in a remote corner. Her light was a bright blue and it was right next to a very bright, very normal light.

This didn't make any sense. Why would Lillian be in such a remote area with a child?

He sighed as he looked from one blue light to the other. With Jack moving so fast, it would be hard to catch up to him.

He looked at where Lillian's blue light was and paused. It seemed like such a random place to be, and yet..

His eyes widened as he realized just exactly where she was.

No..! It couldn't be!

He suddenly took off running for the shadow he usually used when traveling to the globe room at North's, only to practically run into Tooth as she zoomed in from a window.

"Whoa!" Tooth exclaimed as she narrowly avoided a collision, but smiled as she saw Pitch. Baby Tooth was perched on her shoulder, looking very smug.

"Get out of my way!" Pitch snarled at Tooth. "I have to get to Lillian _now._ "

Tooth held up her hands in a placating gesture.

"Baby Tooth just told me where Lillian and Jamie are. We could get the others and - "

Pitch just gave her a look at this.

"There isn't any time! She is in Gethen's territory and it's best to get to her before he.." Pitch trailed off as what Tooth had said sunk in. "Wait.. Did you say Jamie?"

* * *

Mother Nature paced in her palace as she felt the balance of nature shift, as Jack's powers put the weather into even more chaos than before. The Earth couldn't take much more of this.

As she passed a window a stray shaft of moonlight shone right into her pocket, briefly illuminating the bracelet that was still there. She had been meaning to give it back to Lillian, but hadn't found the time. Now with all the weather troubles, it was the last thing on her mind.

The bracelet sparkled in the moonlight. It started to glow a little more brightly as the light on it intensified, and then quick as a wink, it was gone.

Mother Nature continued her pacing, none the wiser.

* * *

Jack flew high over California as the clouds gathered and it began snowing. He glanced down at the ground guiltily, knowing he was definitely out of season and knowing that August could show up at any moment to give him a piece of his mind.

But all he could think about was getting as far away from Burgess as he could. And it's not like he had a choice!

He bit his lip as he looked at his poor, abused staff. He could already tell that it wasn't the same as it used to be. The newer part had more kick and wanted to use more power, but the weakened part protested this and seemed about ready break. It resulted in wild power spikes that he could hardly control. It was a miracle he hadn't accidentally frozen Gethen's lair when he was shooting his powers at the wall to test out his staff.

This made it very difficult for him to create storms. He was trying to just lower the temperature enough to make it snow. A lighter snow, just enough to appease Gethen but not enough to cause any serious damage.

What was actually happening, was his staff was almost completely beyond his control and when he told it to make it snow lightly, it had a huge power spike and the biggest blizzard California had ever seen was now gearing up. The clouds were very dark and ominous and Jack was kinda freaking out since he had no idea on how to stop it.

He was in serious trouble.

* * *

Lillian was sitting on the ground shivering when an extremely worried Pitch came racing out of a shadow. He had his scythe out and looked ready to slice anything out of the ordinary in half.

A freaked out Tooth came flying out of the shadow after Pitch, exclaiming how absolutely _horrible_ that was and _why_ couldn't he have just waited for North and Bunny..!

Lillian's eyes widened as she saw Pitch and Tooth. She had expected Baby Tooth to get Tooth, but not Pitch!

Pitch took one look around and let his scythe disappear back into the shadows as he marched over to Lillian and Jamie.

"Young lady, you have a _lot_ of explaining to do!" Pitch said in his no-nonsense 'you are _SO_ grounded' voice.

Lillian flinched a little at his tone and looked down.

"Um.." was all she could think to say.

All the noise woke Jamie up and he rubbed his eyes sleepily as he shivered from the cold.

"..Wha's.. happening..?" he asked as he saw Tooth and then Pitch. He gave them a sleepy smile as Baby Tooth waved from her perch on Tooth's shoulder.

Tooth gave a soft 'Awww' and scooped Jamie up into her arms.

"Good news!" she said happily to him, trying to ignore Pitch's scolding. "We're taking you home."

Jamie might have felt a little weird about being carried around like a baby by the Tooth Fairy, but he was still pretty tired. He gave her a mumbled thanks and laid his head down on her shoulder.

Tooth looked over to see Pitch giving a very guilty looking Lillian the third degree. She felt a little sorry for Lillian, even if she had snuck out.

"But - " Lillian tried to interrupt again, for the third time.

"No buts!" Pitch exclaimed. "We are going home, or at least back to the Pole, and that's - "

"Ahem!" Tooth interrupted. "Before we do that, can we take Jamie home? Your way of traveling is a bit.. frightening.. but it is the fastest option we have right now."

She finished by giving Pitch a look, because _hello_ snow globes! And all they had to do was wait for North and Bunny. But nooo. _Someone_ was too impatient.

With an impatient huff, Pitch hauled Lillian up to her feet and grabbed a hold of her hand firmly, before dragging her off into a shadow, indicating that Tooth should follow.

Tooth was grateful that Jamie had somehow managed to fall asleep while Pitch was shouting, and would miss out in this nightmare-inducing experience. How could Pitch travel like this?

With a shudder, Tooth followed after.

No one noticed as they all appeared in Jamie's bedroom that a stray shaft of moonlight shone brightly through the window onto Lillian's wrist. Lillian might have noticed the sudden reappearance of her bracelet, but she was still upset from Pitch's scolding and didn't take any notice of it.

After Tooth tucked Jamie into bed, she turned to Pitch to say she could find her own way back. Besides, she still had a lot of work to do.

Pitch was already hauling Lillian off to a shadow to take her back to the Pole, when she dug her feet in and refused to walk any further.

"Wait!" she exclaimed loudly. "Jack's sprites!"

* * *

Author's Note: Yeaaah, as I was writing this chapter I suddenly found a GIANT plot hole and was like.. "WHYYYY?!" so, since Pitch is the one who always catches these things and chalks it up to "Guardians?! What good are they!", I had him find it and fix it. And yes, Manny did steal Lillian's bracelet from Mother Nature and he gave it back to Lillian. Don't worry, Mother Nature will still have a talk with Jack and Lillian later, but she really needed her bracelet back and now is definitely not the time for serious talks.

I am wondering what to do with Gethen as a character though. Should he be redeemed eventually? Or is he beyond hope? Hmm. I also hope that I had Pitch in the right spot. I admit that I haven't had him in recent chapters, so I had a hard time finding out what he was doing. All I could come up with was that he was probably still at the Pole, freaking out.

Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter even though it is rather short, in comparison to longer updates. I'll try to have to the next chapter be longer. I have no clue when it will be out, but I am aiming for before the year is over.


	68. Interlude 14: Back at the Ranch

Author's Notes: You get bonus points if you know where the beginning of this interlude came from. If you don't, then just know that Gethen has never nor will he, ever own a ranch. Anyway, sorry about the lack of posting. Believe it or not, I do have the next official chapter of Child of Spring partially written. I just need to figure out where I want to go with it. It has a lot of skipping around, and I'm just trying to figure out what should happen next. I also have most of a chapter written for the HP Child of Spring, and man did that take on a life of its own. It's kinda long, but I couldn't find a good stopping place. I won't make any promises on when it'll be finished.

Anywho! This interlude might be somewhat confusing, but that's because Gethen has decided to use his mirror and is viewing things that could possibly happen in the near future (ex: next chapter!). I might steal some of this for the next chapter, actually. So consider this a sneak peek of upcoming events. So don't worry, even if it seems like I'm not paying attention to this fic, I've actually been working on this chapter forever. I've just been writing it a little bit at a time. This interlude is just an excuse to say hey, I'm not dead and sorry for the wait. Also, sorry it's so short. The chapter will be longer, I promise.

Reviews: Thanks everyone for all your reviews and thank you CrossoverJunkie for giving me more to think about on Pitch and why he is the way he is. :) And thanks to everyone who has been reading through the fic and reviewing on the chapters, you inspired me to reread everything, and I'm happy that it at least all fits together pretty well, considering some of the time gaps inbetween writing the chapters. I did find a few mistakes, but they're so minor so I'm leaving them alone. Anyway, on with the Interlude!

Interlude 14: Back at the Ranch

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Gethen was using his mirror to view the area around his lair. He could have _sworn_ that someone was there, someone he wouldn't have liked but.. hm. Nothing.

..No wait!

He stared at the tiny patch of color amongst all the grays and browns of the decaying plant life that surrounded his lair. He narrowed his eyes as the mirror zoomed in on the color.

Spring flowers.

Had that blasted Spring Spirit been here? Looking annoyed at the prospect, Gethen directed the mirror to show him Jack Frost.

What he saw at first pleased him. He saw the skies dark with an impending blizzard, and it was already snowing.

But wait.. what was this?

Gethen's eyes narrowed as he saw that pesky Spring Spirit. She was waving her arms at Jack from the ground and shouting something, but the mirror didn't carry sound. Jack was floating in the air thanks to the Wind and was shaking his head at the Spirit.

The Spring Spirit shouted something back to Jack, and Jack's eyes widened. He shook his head frantically at the Spring Spirit, but she didn't seem impressed by this. Her bracelet began to glow brightly and Gethen stared as suddenly lightning flashed throughout the dark clouds and the snow began to get worse. Jack cringed as lightning flashed too close to himself and he hastily went to land.

Winter tried to reason with Spring, but she didn't want to listen. Very reluctantly, Jack aimed his staff at the Spring Spirit.

The remaining Spirits and Sprites all stared at one another in horror. It was never a good thing when two Seasonals were fighting.

They only hoped that Mother Nature would arrive in time to stop it.

* * *

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. Also, I'm having a dilemma with Jamie's mom. I don't want to give away plot, but just in general.. I like how she can see Pitch, but she doesn't see Jack or Lillian or any of the other Guardians, so she doesn't believe in them. But I think at some point it'll be hard for Pitch to keep everything a secret from her.. So should Pitch just explain everything to her eventually? Or should she be kept in the dark? I also need to figure out what to do with the Guardians, since this is really a Seasonal issue, but.. augh! SO. Any suggestions would be nice. Anyway, expect an update eventually~.


	69. Chapter Fifty-Five: Winter vs Spring

Author Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I had a tiny bit of writer's block when it came to Jamie's mom, but shortly after admitting I wasn't sure what to do about her (having her find out about the Guardians and things and what's really going on or keep her in the dark for now?), I decided what to do. So I'm happy to say that I came to a resolution, which you should see when you read the chapter. I didn't mean to leave it on such a cliffhanger, but in the interest of not keeping you guys waiting any longer, I decided to post what I had. The resolution of the fight and everything with Gethen should be pretty long if the next chapter goes the way I was thinking it would go, so I decided to split it up instead of posting one super long chapter.

Now, reviews!

CrossoverJunkie: Glad to see that you haven't given up on the story, even if it does take forever for me to post. :) Thanks for the advice on what to do! I hope your trip was fun too.

KijoKuroi: That is one of the nicest things someone has said about this story! Thank you. That really warmed my heart.

Technow: No, I'm sorry. I have no idea what Beowulf is. I believe at the the time I just needed a good sounding evil name and literally googled something like "evil names" and that just happened to pop up in a list, no explanation on where it came from. I liked the first name Gethen and just thought Grendal could be a silly last name for him, since all the Seasonals have last names. So while I would love to do a Beowulf reference in honor of Gethen's name, I don't think I'd do it justice since I have no idea about any of it. (The fact that it seems to suit him is also incredibly ironic, btw.) And no, unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to Trollhunters. I'm so behind on all my shows! I still haven't watched the last few episodes of _A Series of Unfortunate Events_ yet.

Also, a big thanks to everyone who has faved and followed this story. Even if you don't leave a review, you are secretly poking me with guilt and reminding me that people are still interested in the story, even if it does sometimes take forever for a new chapter to come out. Don't worry, there WILL be an ending to the story. I will not leave it hanging, unfinished and sad. Besides, there is still a lot of plot yet, and I admit, I'm super excited still for what will come AFTER this particular plot with Gethen.

So now.. On with the story! Finally!

Oh, and forewarning: There is a lot of skipping around in this chapter, so you can see what everyone is up to. Time might skip around a little too, to show you what certain characters were doing as things geared up. Sorry if it's confusing.

Chapter Fifty-Five: Winter vs. Spring

Pitch grumbled at Lillian's exclamation.

" _What_ about Jack's sprites?" Pitch started to ask, but Lillian had wriggled out of his grasp and rushed out of Jamie's room.

"Lillian!" Pitch called, then halted as Jamie mumbled in his sleep and rolled over. He gave Jamie a deer-in-the-headlights look for a moment, before Jamie settled back down.

He breathed a sigh of relief and then hurried out of the room after Lillian. Tooth had already rushed off with Baby Tooth, claiming that she still had so many teeth to collect and..!

Pitch had pretty much tuned her out as he hurried off after Lillian.

Lillian had tromped down the stairs and rushed to the kitchen, not paying Jamie's mom any attention, as she sat glued to the tv in the living room, watching a weather report on the news.

She hurriedly grabbed the cooler that had the sprites in it out of the freezer, when she noticed that she had her bracelet back.

This was _awesome._

Now she could go find Jack!

Her excitement faded however, when she realized she had no idea as to where he was. How would she find him?

Meanwhile, Pitch was frozen at the bottom of the stairs, as he could clearly see Jamie's mom sitting in the living room and he had a strong feeling that she would be able to see him. He frowned in consternation, as he didn't exactly remember when she had seen him, but he just _knew_ she could.

"Oh my goodness!" Jamie's mom exclaimed, and Pitch stared as Lillian came rushing into the room. Lillian looked inquisitively at Jamie's mom and then turned to look at the report on TV.

Lillian gasped loudly, but Jamie's mom never heard her. The reporter on TV was talking about the impending blizzard in California and how devastating it was going to be.

That's where Jack was. Lillian didn't know what Jack was up to, but she knew she had to stop him.

She looked around and spotted Pitch trying to silently get her attention. She hurried over and passed him the cooler, but made sure to stay out of arm's reach.

"I have to go to Jack," Lillian said looking apologetic. The floor had a big flower sprout out of it as Lillian's bracelet began to glow brightly. "I'll be careful!" she called out as the flower ate her up and vanished without a trace.

Pitch actually growled in frustration, but immediately regretted it as he heard footsteps. He hastily moved away from the staircase and was almost to a shadow to disappear into, when he heard Jamie's mom scream.

 _Great._

* * *

Bunny had returned to the globe room not long after Pitch and Tooth had left. He had just come from Lillian's room after a frantic Phil had tried garbling something at him and he was _not_ pleased to see that not only was she missing, but so was Pitch! Which meant he ran off by himself _again._

Grumbling to himself about annoying spirits and their stubbornness, he glanced over at the globe as he so often did, and then he stopped and stared with a gasp.

He could clearly see one blue light on the way to California and the other, which was so far away, seemed to blink in an instant to Burgess along with a regular light. As Bunny watched, the blue light there vanished and reappeared in California. No, what drew his attention was that Jack's light was growing dimmer and around his light, so were hundreds of other children's.

What was going on?!

* * *

Mother Nature paced in her palace. She could feel the winter magic pouring from Jack and frowned. This was definitely not good. She knew from Sandy and Pitch that Jack was missing, and now he was using so much of his powers.

She glanced out one of her windows as if expecting to see snow, but she saw nothing to indicate the increasingly turbulent weather.

As she continued her pacing, she suddenly felt a huge surge of spring magic. She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes widened. She felt Winter clash with Spring, and her dread grew. What was going on?!

With a swirl of petals and leaves, she hastily disappeared from the palace. She knew she had to find her children, or else the world would be doomed. With that much power from two seasons being released at the same time, she knew that a lot of people would be hurt. Not to mention the damage it would do to the planet.

She had to hurry!

* * *

Pitch hastily shoved the cooler containing the Winter Sprites into a shadow, hoping Jamie's mom wouldn't notice that. He winced when he heard the sharp intake of breath.

"M-Mr. Pitch?" Jamie's mom asked shrilly. "Wait.. Did you just have your hand _in the wall?!"_

Pitch hastily moved his hand away from the wall, having successfully shoved the cooler into the shadow, thankfully.

"Ah.. no, of course not. Who could possibly do that?" he said rather lamely. "Anyway, I'm sorry to disturb you so late.. It's.. it's just that your door was open, and.. ah.." he gestured at the front door, which was closed. "I.. was wondering if you've seen my eldest, Jack? He's.. sort of.. snuck off on me."

Jamie's mom calmed down a bit and then looked confused at Pitch's nervous and halting explanation of why he was in her home.

"No.. I.. don't even know what he looks like?" she said, very confused.

Pitch could have smacked himself. Why did Lillian have to run out into the living room anyway?! And _why_ could Jamie's mom see him and not any of the other spirits?! This was very irritating.

Pitch opened his mouth to continue with his terrible explanation, but just then the tv caught his attention.

"Conditions appear to be deteriorating as the blizzard continues to get worse!" the poor weatherman stated. Apparently the station was showing the weatherman who was on location and bundled up as best he could.

The weatherman winced suddenly as thunder boomed as loud as a cannon and lightning crackled all around.

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed. "The blizzard is turning into a.. a.. sort of thunder snow!"

But all Pitch could see was Jack hovering in the air behind the weatherman, and Lillian, who had just arrived via the giant flower, yelling at Jack and waving her arms.

When Jack shook his head, Lillian's bracelet began to glow and then the real storm began.

Jamie's mom noticed that Pitch was distracted and looked at the tv as well.

"Oh my gosh," she said, her eyes getting wide. "I've never seen a storm _that_ bad, let alone in California!"

She tore her gaze away from the tv, to see that Pitch still looked very distraught.

"I'm sure your son is just out with his friends," she said consolingly to him. "He's a teenager, right? I'm sure he'll be home before you know it. Do you want some tea?"

Pitch vaguely nodded, barely hearing her. All he could do was stare at Lillian and Jack on the screen.

"Have a seat," Jamie's mom said as she gestured at the couch.

Soon they were both sitting side by side on the couch, sipping their tea as they watched the weirdest weather phenomenon California had ever seen.

"You know, sometimes it's like the weather has a mind of its own," Jamie's mom, Lauren, commented.

Pitch made a strangled noise as lightning struck perilously close to Jack and hastily drank some of his tea.

He wanted desperately to disappear into a shadow and appear where Jack and Lillian were, but he couldn't do that with Lauren right there. The poor woman would probably have a nervous breakdown.

But as he stared at the epic showdown on the screen, he knew that he had to do something.

Soon.

* * *

In the globe room at North's, a rather nondescript cooler suddenly flew out of a shadow in the corner by the globe and went skidding across the floor, before coming to a stop near Bunny's foot.

"I can't believe..!" Bunny was fuming at North. Bunny, North and Tooth had all been having a serious discussion about some spring flowers randomly appearing in Burgess earlier, only to have Pitch and Tooth disappear on them later.

Tooth had shown back up not that long ago to say that Pitch was now with Lillian, and after dropping Jamie back at his house, she was certain that Pitch was going to go off on his own and search for Jack himself.

Which is precisely what the Guardians had all scolded him for before, but apparently Pitch was a very slow learner.

Or he just didn't like listening to them.

Bunny was certain that Pitch was doing it on purpose just to spite them, and he was bemoaning the fact that they had absolutely _no idea_ where to look for them and..!

Bunny was stomping his feet and waving his arms about how selfish Pitch was to just take off on them with no notice, when his gaze fell on the globe. Specifically, the blue lights he could see on the globe.

He stopped mid-rant and could have smacked himself.

"The lights!" he exclaimed, while rushing over to the globe. North hurried over as well, and they soon spotted both of the blue lights in.. California?

"Look, Bunny! Many lights are dimming!" North said in dismay.

"Crikey, look at 'em all.." Bunny said, his ears drooping a bit as light after light grew more dim all around the blue lights.

"And blue light! Is getting dim too, no?" North said as he indicated one of the blue lights.

The blue lights had gotten stronger since everything that had happened, but they tended to bounce around from dim to semi-bright, back to dim again. Since Jack and Lillian had gotten friendlier with the Guardians, they had tended to be more bright. But now one of them seemed to be in trouble.

Bunny's ears went back up again and he squared his shoulders.

"Right," he said. "We gotta go there and help 'em out. 'Sides, it's a good bet that Pitch is already there."

"Da," North agreed. "We can take sleigh!"

Bunny blanched at that.

"Mate, my tunnels are more safe - " Bunny started, but was cut off as North grabbed his arm and dragged him off.

Phil poked his head out from his work room as he could hear Bunny's very loud protests all the way to the sleigh.

* * *

Sandy was floating high above a city, with streams of golden dreamsand shooting out in every direction. He was still very worried about where Jack was, but he had eventually left the Pole to go spread his dreams.

He was very distracted however, and then he started to get the strange wishes.

 _Wow! I wish it would keep snowing! This is awesome!_

 _I wish school would get cancelled tomorrow!_

 _I wanna build a snowman! I wish Mommy would let me go outside!_

Sandy looked perplexed, since wasn't it still _May?_ Sure, the weather had been strange lately..

He shook his head and went on to another city to spread dreams. He kept half an ear out for the wishes, hoping he could decipher the child spirits' wishes from the rest. And sure enough, the wishes began to change..

 _I wish the snow would stop!_

 _I wish the sun would come out!_

 _I wish Jack would stop! What's wrong with him?!_

Sandy's eyes widened at that last wish.

Was that Lillian?!

What did that wish mean? Was Jack behind some of the strange weather?!

 _I wish Lillian would listen to me..! I wish Pitch were here!_

Sandy froze in midair.

That had to have been Jack's wish.

And then, at the next wish.. barely whispered as though it were more a plea, Sandy rushed off.

 _I wish I didn't have to do this.. Don't make me do it, Jack._

* * *

Pitch stared at the screen, watching everything unfold as he gripped his mug of tea very tightly. While Lauren thought she was watching an epic storm unfold, only Pitch could see the true battle taking place.

As he watched the showdown between Lillian and Jack, their fears rang out to him.

 _What if I can't stop this blizzard? What if I fail my sprites?!_

 _I don't want to fight Jack.. I wish Pitch was here!_

 _The Guardians will hate me for spreading this blizzard.._

 _What if I can't stop Jack? What'll happen if I fail?_

Pitch winced as the continual fears poured in from both his children. Both so insecure and in need of help. He finished the last of his tea and made to stand.

Lauren or no Lauren, he had to go. Jack and Lillian needed him, and that was all that mattered.

But before he could stand, he saw a swirl of petals and leaves appear not far from where Lillian was.

As Pitch stared, he suddenly saw Mother Nature and the rest of the Seasonals appear.

Lauren, who could see none of this, made a comment on how the storm seemed to be getting worse.

* * *

Mother Nature had gone to round up her Seasonals. She could tell Jack was spreading Winter out of season and it was very perplexing for her. Why would he do such a thing? She admitted that she had no idea where Jack or Lillian were at the moment, and it seemed that Pitch didn't either, as she recalled his earlier visit with Sandy.

She sighed as she appeared suddenly at the edge of Jasper's forest. Several fall sprites twittered excitedly as they spotted Mother Nature, since she didn't ever visit the Seasonals. Normally the Seasonals had to come to her. She asked the nearest sprite to fetch Jasper for her, and soon a worried Jasper had appeared.

"What's going on?" he asked Mother Nature as he appeared suddenly in a swirl of fall leaves. Rather than walking down to her, he used his powers to magically appear nearby her. "The last I knew, Jack was taking his sprites to the North Pole."

Mother Nature looked very confused at this, since she had heard from Pitch that Jack had visited Jasper and then mysteriously vanished.

"I don't know what you mean," she said, confusion obvious in her tone. "But I can sense that Jack is spreading Winter out of season. There is a big storm brewing, and I shall need all of my Seasonals to help stop it."

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, looking very perplexed by all this.

"Jack flew away with two of his sprites in a cooler. He said he was going straight to the North Pole. Something must have happened when he left."

Mother Nature nodded at this explanation.

"Do you know where August is? I haven't been able to find him. Perhaps he is lurking around California again."

Jasper shook his head in disgust.

"No.. I wanted him to help me out with Jack, but he left."

Mother Nature looked distressed at this.

"We must hurry. It is _May_ and there will be a big snowstorm, I can feel it."

Jasper blinked, since this was pretty insane even with all the strange weather they'd been having lately.

"Where's the storm going to be?" he asked curiously.

"..California."

Jasper rolled his eyes at this.

"That's August's favorite state! He's bound to be right there. I wouldn't be surprised if he was arguing with Jack right now."

"Then we must hurry and put a stop to this!" Mother Nature said urgently. Before Jasper could reply, she had them both vanish in a swirl of petals and leaves.

The fall sprites all looked at one another. How could their Seasonal leave without them?

The one that always wound up guarding Jasper's paints spoke up, having gone outside to eavesdrop on the conversation. She told the others that they had to help Jasper out.

Somehow, they had to get to California before it was too late.

* * *

August was with Marin in California when the first snowflakes had begun to fall. Now it was a few hours later, and the snow was falling much more thickly now, and the wind was starting to pick up. He shivered as the temperature continued to plummet down to freezing temperatures.

This was California, this wasn't right! He glanced at Marin and noticed she seemed to be shivering as well. He sighed and took hold of her hand. Marin felt a warmth spread from her hand and up her arm, and soon the warmth had spread to her whole body, warming her up.

"You should go back home," August told her sternly. He still wasn't very happy with her, but he didn't want her to freeze.

Marin shook her head. Gethen would find out if she left California, and something bad would happen to the remaining sprites. She only hoped that this blizzard meant that Gethen was too busy to pay her any attention.

"I want to stay with you!" she shouted over the howling wind.

August scowled at that.

"It's too dangerous! You'll freeze!"

Marin scowled right back at him, her sapphire eyes flashing in annoyance.

"Don't you get it?!" she shouted at August. "I _can't_ go! He'll know I'm not listening to him and everyone will _die!_ "

August continued to scowl, now looking angry and a bit perplexed.

"What are you - " August started to speak, but was cut off when lightning started to flash everywhere. Thunder boomed overhead like a loud explosion and the snow fell much faster and thicker than ever before. The wind began to howl as it blew more harshly, and they could feel the frigid air as it hit their skin.

Marin's eyes widened as she took in the sight of the worsening storm.

* * *

Not long after she left Pitch, Lillian's flower of doom grew bright and big in California and spit her out right in the middle of the gathering blizzard. She had guessed right on where she should appear, since she could see the tell-tale blue hoodie high up in the sky.

As she stood up, she put her hood up on her cloak as the temperature was rapidly falling. She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to Jack.

"Jack!" she shouted at him, her voice tinged with worry. "What are you doing?!"

Jack didn't appear to hear Lillian over the Wind, or perhaps he was ignoring her, since he didn't turn in her direction or look down. He continued to try and bring the storm more under control, but as his staff glowed a bit _too_ energetically, he could see that he was just making it worse.

"JAAACK!" Lillian shouted at the top of her lungs, and waved her arms around for emphasis. She even started jumping up and down while waving her arms. She felt a bit silly, but she had to get his attention somehow.

Jack whirled around in midair looking very startled as he saw Lillian was there. He looked very guilty for a moment but then hitched a smirk on his face. But the smirk faded when Lillian continued to shout at him.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Lillian shouted at him some more. "STOP THIS BLIZZARD! YOU'RE GOING TO HURT A LOT OF PEOPLE!"

Jack looked at Lillian and sighed. She didn't understand anything! He shook his head at her and called down.

"I can't!" he called back as he had the wind take him lower to the ground, but not having him land, since he still had the blizzard to deal with. Why did it have to get so out of control?!

Lillian looked at Jack like he was crazy.

"You HAVE to!" she shouted back to him.

Jack shook his head in exasperation. She didn't understand! He literally couldn't with his staff the way it was.

"JAAACK!" Lillian cried out in frustration. "STOP IT! C'MON!"

Jack shook his head frantically at her.

"I CAN'T! REALLY!"

Lillian gave Jack a look of hurt and betrayal. Why would he be like this?

"Don't make me do it Jack," Lillian said more quietly, but Jack didn't respond. So with trepidation in her heart, she summoned her spring powers and held out her hand towards the sky, as her bracelet began to glow.

Jack's eyes widened at that, and then he heard a sizzle as a bolt of lightning barely missed him followed by the loudest BOOOM of thunder he head ever heard.

Jack flinched away from the lightning and stared at Lillian with wide eyes. She was attacking him?!

Lillian looked sadly at her friend, but didn't stop the assault. She flinched as another bolt of lightning almost hit Jack. She hoped she could scare him into stopping, but it didn't seem to be working.

Jack had the Wind move him just in time as he dodged the second bolt of lightning. Lillian didn't understand at all! He didn't want to freeze her, but at this point it was either freeze or be fried.

Very reluctantly, he raised his staff and pointed it at Lillian.

 _I'm sorry, Lillian._

* * *

Pitch stared at the screen, but decided that his children still needed him. He saw Lauren absorbed in what was to her, a very unusual weather report, but to him it was a heart attack waiting to happen.

 _All_ his children were in that horrible storm, and he had to do _something._ Anything!

And so, feeling slightly foolish, Pitch gave a huge gasp and stared wide eyed toward the kitchen.

"What is THAT?!" he exclaimed in what he hoped was a very surprised and worried tone of voice.

"What?!" Jamie's mom jumped up hurried over to the kitchen to look. "What is it?!"

Taking his chance, Pitch left his mug of tea on the coffee table and literally dove headfirst into the first shadow he spotted, knowing that he didn't have much time at all.

"What did you - " Jamie's mom started to ask as she turned around, but then stopped as she saw suddenly that Pitch was missing. She thought she saw a flicker of something near the coffee table, something.. black..? But dismissed it as her imagination.

She wandered over to the front door and frowned in confusion as she saw that the deadbolt was still locked.

"Mr. Pitch..?" she called out hesitantly, but she received no answer.

Where did he go?

* * *

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. So you can see that I decided to tease Jamie's mom and not have her figure out anything or have Pitch explain anything. I'm thinking if she does find out, she'll be a bit like the mom in The Santa Clause. "Don't fly over any oceans and no leaving the continent! Be back by dinner!"

My favorite part of this chapter has to be when Pitch and Lauren are both watching the weather report and seeing two very different versions of it. Does anyone have any guesses as to who's going to help resolve everything first? Will Sandy magically show up and save the day? Will Pitch use his Adult Mode? Or will Mother Nature and the Seasonals beat everyone to it? Or maybe the Guardians will swoop in at the last minute! Hmmm. Anyway, don't worry. No innocent weathermen will be harmed in the next chapter. :) As always, if you have any ideas or suggestions, just let me know. FYI, it's been almost two years since I first posted this fic! I never thought it would go on so long.


	70. Interlude 15: Everything is Possible

Author's Note: So I was thinking of how I wanted the next chapter to go and then this plot bunny attacked and I just _had_ to. So **WARNING** , this interlude does involve plot, but it is as angsty as it can get. It has character death and just.. terrible things, really. It introduces a character that won't show up until later plot, but if you want to skip the angst, then skip this interlude. None of it gets better. I'm a terrible person, I know. You can decide for yourselves if this particular wizard is Ombric or not. :)

This interlude relates way back to the mysterious letter Lillian got. So if you're curious about that, then you might want to brave the angst. As always, thanks to all my reviews, follows and faves. Consider this a bit of filler while I plot out the next chapter - which will _not_ have the apocalypse.

As a forewarning, I'll need future plot ideas, since all I have is what's going on now, Gethen, and this other plot I keep referencing and that's it! Something might come to me later, but if you want the story to keep going then please send me some ideas!

* * *

 **Interlude 15: Everything is Possible**

As Winter prepared to attack Spring, someone (besides Gethen) was passively watching the battle as it progressed. He was rather tall and old - very old, with long white hair and a long white beard. He wore a Gandalf styled hat, though he had worn it long before Gandalf had even been thought of. He complimented his hat with wizard style robes.

He glanced at his attire with a bit of bemusement. Why not wear robes? He was a wizard after all. He knew that they had long since been out of fashion, but a wizard in a button up shirt just didn't have that certain _flair._ His robes certainly did though. They were a deep blue-black and had silvery white swirls embroidered along the edges (so did his magnificent hat) that reminded him of the night sky. In the center of his hat by the brim, a pretty white jewel sparkled that looked a little like the moon. In the corner of the room lay his trusty staff, unneeded at the moment.

He smiled at the thought of himself in a button up shirt and pants and then focused his attention back to the mirror he was looking at. It was a medium sized oval, with a silver frame. But it wasn't the only mirror in the room. The wall was covered in hundreds of mirrors, each and every one showing not the old wizard's reflection, but the reflection of a moment in time. But oh no, not any moment.

For this was the wizard's most favorite room, The Room of Possibilities. Each mirror showed a point in time, and then the mirrors around that point (they had matching frames, to make them easy to distinguish) showed the various outcomes that were possible. His favorite mirrors to watch involved the Guardians, but now he was watching the fight between Winter and Spring. He frowned as he looked to a mirror with a silver frame nearby. This one however, was a square, and square mirrors he had discovered, never had good things to show.

As he watched, he found he was right, as in this square mirror Jack Frost aimed his awkward staff at Lillian hesitantly. Jack looked at her sadly for a moment, but then another bolt of lightning nearly struck him again and he fired. Powerful blue lightning blazed from his staff, as Jack realized in horror that his supposedly small blast was much too powerful.

All Lillian could do was stare in shock as the blast sped towards her and then it struck. It blasted her right off her feet, and she landed several feet from where she had been standing. What could be seen of her that wasn't covered in her cloak or snow, looked blue and frozen solid.

Not long after, Mother Nature arrived with Jasper and August, looking very upset as she surveyed the scene and saw poor little Lillian, frozen solid in the snow. She glared angrily at Jack, but before she could say anything, Pitch suddenly arrived via a shadow from the cameraman of the news crew that was nearby.

"L-Lillian?!" he gasped when he saw her and rushed right over to her. He knelt down in the snow by her and reached out to touch her hand. It was freezing cold and it felt like ice. He stood up then, as a familiar fury swept over him. His hands clenched at his sides, and he gave Jack his most piercing glare.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" he roared at Jack.

Jack's eyes went wide and he flinched backwards from Pitch.

"..I.. I.." he faltered.

"YOU FIX HER! Do you hear me?! You fix her and then you go away! I don't ever want to see you again!" Pitch glared at Jack with absolute hatred in his eyes. It was the sort of look that long ago, a certain general might have given Nitemares and dream pirates.

Jack closed his eyes as if warding off a blow as Pitch's next words struck him.

"All you do is make a mess of everything!"

Tears filled Jack's eyes as he opened them, and his vision grew wavery. He looked completely crushed.

"..I.. I CAN'T..!" he cried out in anguish as the storm grew even more powerful. Fueled by Lillian's burst of spring magic, and now Jack's emotionally out of control Winter magic, the storm grew beyond even what Mother Nature could end.

The elderly wizard tsked at this bleak outcome. He certainly hoped _that_ didn't happen. But as he tore his gaze away from that particular mirror, he noted with dismay that the oval mirror seemed to be surrounded with smaller square ones, each more disastrous than the last. Most of them revolved around Jack accidentally killing someone with his wildly out of control staff and then practically creating another ice age in his grief.

First Lillian was frozen, then in another outcome was Pitch, and in yet another Sandy arrived to save the day, but wound up in the way of the blast meant for Lillian. Sandy had survived Pitch, only to be irreversibly frozen by Jack. Another had Mother Nature appearing at precisely the wrong place and time.

One of the worst was North using a snow globe to appear in the sleigh with Bunny right in the middle of the fight. _Both_ North and Bunny had been frozen, only to be shattered by a stray bolt of lightning.

Lillian's and Jack's emotions both spiraled out of control at that - the results were apocalyptic.

But the absolute worst was when no one had been frozen. The fight had raged on, and Mother Nature had arrived with Jasper and August. They attempted to end the fight, but they couldn't get Jack to see reason and end the storm. An increasingly frustrated Jack kept shouting he couldn't do anything, but this was seen as him being uncooperative and defiant.

So, with no other choice, Mother Nature disappeared in a huff and a few moments later, Jack began to scream as his powers were torn from him. As he lost all power, his staff failed and he began to fall from the sky. Even without Jack, the storm continued on, as dangerous as ever.

Pitch had arrived while everyone was trying to reason with Jack, and now he stared in horror with Lillian and the rest of the Seasonals as Jack fell. Pitch could see Jack's eyes were closed, as though he had passed out, and that Jack's hair was turning back to brown. When he was nearly to the ground, he looked exactly like Jasper in a blue hoodie. Pitch started to rush over to try and stop Jack's fall somehow, but before Jack could hit the ground, he faded away into nothing.

Pitch had only managed to take a few hurried steps and he stared at where Jack would have landed blankly.

Jack was.. _gone?_

Jasper looked particularly upset as Lillian started sobbing.

"She chose a new Winter Spirit," he said harshly.

Pitch glanced back at Jasper and August, uncomprehending.

"..What?" his voice sounded flat, and empty.

"Mother Nature," Jasper spat out. "When Jack wouldn't stop the blizzard, she chose someone else to be the Winter Spirit. Jack's powers and long life as a spirit were taken away and given to the new spirit."

"NOOOO!" Lillian wailed as her bracelet began to glow brightly.

The wizard watched sadly as eventually the storm had been thwarted by being moved far away into Antarctica, by the floundering new Winter Spirit, who ironically was related to Jamie's gossip loving History teacher.

Yes, the world had been saved in that possibility, but at what cost? Pitch, Lillian and even the Guardians had never been the same afterwards, and Pitch never spoke to Mother Nature again.

With a sigh, the wizard known as Father Time to some, looked at what might be their last hope. This last mirror was a square, but was hung in such a way as to make it look like a diamond, and Father Time had learned that diamonds weren't completely horrible.

He watched in the diamond shaped mirror as Jack readied his blast and Father Time found himself hoping for the best, but then grinned as his gaze wandered further down the wall to other, future possibilities.

Yes.. If everything worked out, it wouldn't be too much longer until that Bennett boy was paying him a visit.

* * *

Author's Note: Yeah.. Don't kill me. This was actually going to be the beginning of the next chapter, but I thought jumping to Father Time might be too sudden and the possibilities too angsty. So it became an interlude instead. You'll have to decide for yourselves if I snuck in anything that might show up later (besides Father Time). Anywho, let me know what you thought. Next chapter will have action, but 1000% less angst.


	71. Chapter Fifty-Six: Frozen

Author's Note: Whew! This chapter turned out much longer than I thought it would be. Thanks to the Anonymous guest reviewer on The HP Child of Spring, they spurred me into writing this chapter. I was planning on it and thinking about how it would all go down all week, but just didn't find the time to write it. Since I have an extra, extra long weekend (took a couple vacation days to stretch it out, hehe) I figured now would be the perfect time. I was planning a major update on ALL the Child of Spring fics, (plus Opposite Stephanie, for those that care) but I think for now it's safe to say that this and the HP one will be updated.

Reviews:

I already thanked CrossoverJunkie in a guest review, but thanks again for reminding me that I still actually have a ton of plot left to talk about, and this chapter just leaves me with so much mooore plot, so. Yeah. Fic's not ending anytime soon!

Lady Syndra: Whoo! Go you. :) Thanks for your review.

101: Sorry I made you cry so much. Sometimes I don't realize how angsty this fic can get. I tend to view the whole of it as mostly sunshine and rainbows. I don't know why, since I always have chapters like this one, which are somewhat depressing. I'm not sure what Jamie did to make you want Gethen to off him, but Gethen won't ever use his powers on humans. His powers are horrific enough, and him using them on mortals would be crossing the line. Gethen will limit his power abuse to things that fade away. I haven't decided if he'll use them on other spirits or not, or even if he'll be able to be redeemed. I'm aware that everyone's relationship with Mother Nature is pretty messed up right now, and eventually they WILL get things sorted out. But right now, we do have a major blizzard going on, etc.

So that's it for reviews. I love it when people do reviews as they read through the fic, since it totally inspires me to write more for it. (The guilt, the guilt!) Anywho, thanks to all the faves and follows too. Now on with the story!

 **Chapter Fifty-Six: Frozen**

Very reluctantly, Jack pointed his staff at Lillian. He really didn't want to do this, but Lillian wasn't listening to him and he wasn't sure how else to get her to stop shooting lightning at him from the storm.

Even as he was thinking that, another bolt of lightning nearly hit him and without another thought, Jack's staff glowed as he shot a blast of winter magic at Lillian.

With mounting horror however, Jack realized that the small blast he had sent was _far_ too strong.

All Lillian could do was stare in absolute shock and horror at the blue bolt of pure winter magic that was headed her way. Even if she wanted to move out of the way, it was too late. She didn't have time to get completely out of the way.

 _How could you do this to me?!_ her soul cried out, but before the blast could hit her, Mother Nature suddenly appeared with the other Seasonals.

August, Marin and Jasper appeared off to the side, but Mother Nature had somehow miscalculated her own appearance and was much closer to the fight. She quickly saw that Jack had fired winter magic at Lillian, and knew that it would spell the Child of Spring's demise, if the blast should hit her. Lillian was a much newer spirit after all, and she wasn't as strong as Jack.

So without another thought, Mother Nature disappeared in a shower of petals and leaves and reappeared right by Lillian. She roughly shoved Lillian aside seconds before the blast was to hit, but it was too late.

The blast wound up hitting both the spirits just as Lillian was pushed aside. She screamed as she felt the icy cold magic hit her, and she fell over in the snow from Mother Nature shoving her.

Lillian lay there in the snow, feeling colder than she ever felt in her life. She could hear people shouting, but all she could think about was how cold she was.

She felt hands turning her over, so she wasn't laying face down in the snow. She opened her eyes to see a frantic Jasper staring down at her.

"Y-you're alive," he gasped in surprise. He thought for certain that both Mother Nature and the Child of Spring had perished.

"I'm cold," Lillian said in a small, trembling voice. As she said that, she realized she was shivering uncontrollably.

Jasper helped her sit up and started checking her over, to make sure she was alright. Lillian might not be his favorite spirit, but even he wouldn't want her to die from Jack's winter magic.

He gasped in horror when he got to her legs. Everything else had been fine, so he was hoping the blast had missed Lillian, but no such luck. What he could see of her right leg, looked very blue and frozen. He tried to get her foot out of her boot, but her foot wouldn't bend at all to slip it out. When he touched the blue part of her leg, his hand felt a deep, penetrating cold and he had to pull his hand away.

No wonder she was cold!

Lillian had been watching this with growing hysteria and now she tried to move her own foot, with no success.

"I can't feel my leg!" Lillian shrieked with wide eyes. "I can't move my foot! I can't feel anything!"

Jack, who had been hovering nearby uncertainly, winced as a huge surge of guilt hit him.

So naturally, it was at that time that Pitch had to show up, appearing from the shadow of the nearby cameraman, as the weatherman who was completely oblivious to anything but the storm, continued to report the weather.

Pitch took in the scene as he appeared. He could see Jack, looking terribly guilty, while Jasper was kneeling down by Lillian, and August was standing with some girl by Mother Nature..

Wait.

Wait a moment.

Pitch's eyes widened as he saw Mother Nature, who apppeared frozen like a statue.

Surely, she wasn't..

"I can't feel my leg!" Lillian shrieked hysterically. "I can't move my foot! I can't feel anything!"

Pitch's eyes widened at this and he rushed over to them all.

He stopped first at Mother Nature, and touched her. She appeared to be in the act of pushing something. Pitch winced when he felt her, ice cold to the touch. It was a pure cold, colder than anything he had ever felt.

"..Emily Jane.." he whispered brokenly, as he realized that Mother Nature was completely frozen solid.

"P-Pitch..!" Lillian cried out when she spotted him. "Help!"

At Lillian's cry, Pitch was jerked out of his stupor and he hurried over to her, with one last glance at his precious daughter.

He looked down at Lillian as he drew near and Jasper hastily stood and moved aside for Pitch as he remembered their last encounter, where he nearly lost his head.

Pitch knelt down by Lillian and gathered her in his arms, as Lillian began to cry.

Pitch's eyes felt moist too, as he held her. One child frozen solid and another partially frozen. And it was all because..

Pitch stood with Lillian in his arms and he glared at Jack. Jack flinched from the look, and he began to babble.

"I didn't mean to!" he said desperately to Pitch. "I-It's my staff!" he held it out so they could all see how strange it was now. "It got disintegrated and partially regrown and now I can't control it!"

Pitch stared at Jack's staff, which did look very.. odd.

"You fix them," he said harshly to Jack. "You fix them and make them right."

Jack hugged his staff to himself and his eyes looked so sad.

"I can't," he said quietly to Pitch. "I can't control it. I can't stop the storm.." Jack's vision grew blurry as he saw Pitch continuing to glare at him. "I can't do anything!"

Lillian had her face buried in Pitch's robes as she sobbed hysterically. She desperately wished that this day had never happened and that they could go back to a happier, more simpler time.

It was as this desperate wish formed, that a golden plane being buffeted by the strong winds, landed nearby them.

The plane disappeared and Sandy floated over to them. A golden exclamation point appeared over his head as he saw Mother Nature frozen solid. He took in the scene to see August and Marin examining Mother Nature, while Jasper hesitantly was watching Pitch, Lillian and Jack.

Pitch was about to reply to Jack, when a concerned Sandy made his way over to them. Golden symbols appeared rapidly over his head as he questioned Pitch and Jack.

"I didn't mean to!" Jack said, his voice getting higher pitched and more hysterical. Wasn't anyone going to believe him?!

Pitch took a deep breath as he held Lillian close to himself. Now was not the time to lose his temper, and he knew that if he did, he would say some very hurtful things that he would regret later.

"Something has happened to Jack's staff, and apparently it.. it froze.." Pitch trailed off, his voice breaking.

He couldn't do this.. He couldn't. Not when it seemed like he and Emily Jane were _finally_ getting along.

He couldn't lose her.

Not now.

And Lillian! He gazed down at her sadly, looking concerned. What was to become of her? Would she lose her leg? Would she ever be the same?

"I think," August interrupted as he walked over by them, Marin in tow, "I can unthaw Mother Nature. If Marin and I use all our power, it should be enough to help Mother Nature."

Pitch's heart rose with those words and his hope soared. Mother Nature might be saved!

Jack lifted his head hopefully at that. Maybe the damage he did could be undone after all.

Pitch's hope fell however, when he took in the still raging storm. It was very cold, and still the middle of the night. He looked around as he realized just how many people, children included, were in danger.

Emily Jane had to be saved, but.. all those others.

He sighed and gave Lillian a squeeze. He hoped he was doing the right thing.

"No," Pitch said to August, whose eyes widened at that. "You have to stop this storm first. It's what she would want. Jack can't help with his powers, so you and the others must combat this cold. You are the only ones who can do so."

Jasper and August gaped at Pitch.

This was _Pitch Black_ , right?

Pitch walked over to Jasper and handed Lillian over to him.

"Sandy and I can give the children dreams and nightmares, warning them to stay inside for now. You look after Lillian and take care of this weather. She can help you once she's settled down, but you will probably have to carry her for now."

Pitch walked over to Sandy, who looked suprised for a moment, but then smiled. He should have known that this Pitch would be different. Before, Pitch might have become dangerously angry, or even disowned Jack for his actions. But this Pitch was willing to set aside his feelings to help out all the people and children who were in danger.

Sandy nodded at Pitch and formed his golden plane again. The weather was too unpredictable for his cloud. He put on his golden goggles and soon had taken off again into the storm.

Pitch didn't look at poor Mother Nature as he made his way to the nearest shadow. He glanced back at Jack and saw how distraught the boy was, but Pitch didn't have time for reassurances.

"I trust you all to do the right thing," Pitch said as the Seasonals stared at him in suprise.

Before August and Jasper could say anything, Pitch had disappeared into the shadow. What Pitch hadn't realized of course, was the stubbornness of one Seasonal in particular, and the stubbornness of one Easter Bunny. For shortly after Pitch's and Sandy's departure, North and Bunny arrived on the sleigh, crash landing spectacularly on camera, having just avoided the cameraman and crew.

"Oi!" Bunny said as he climbed out from the sleigh. "Watch yer landings, ya dingo!" He stretched his back with a groan.

"Is very difficult with all this wind!" North retorted as he too got out from the sleigh. "Where is Sandy and Tooth?"

Bunny rolled his eyes. "You didn't set off the aurora, so I doubt they know where ta go."

North looked sheepish at that. "We were in such a hurry, I did not think to do so."

"Looks like it's just us then," Bunny said as he looked around. He frowned when he saw August, something other spirit (Marin) Jack and.. why was Jasper holding Lillian?

Then he saw Mother Nature, and his eyes widened. His frown deepened and he marched right over by them.

"Alright, what happened here?!" Bunny demanded, his harsh tone making Jack flinch and look more guilty than ever.

"Ask Mr. Freeze over there," August said with a frown. "He almost killed the Spring Spirit, and who knows what condition Mother Nature will be in when she's unfrozen. Both of them could have irreperable damage."

Bunny looked suprised at this and gave Jack a look. It was the sort of look that said that Jack had better start explaining.

So Jack explained yet again about his staff, as North made his way over. Bunny and North exchanged a look at that. How did Jack's staff get disintegrated in the first place? And regrown? This was very strange.

"I should be able to unthaw Mother Nature with Marin's help, and I think we can do something about Lillian's leg as well," August explained.

Bunny was going to nod, but then he paused.

"Wait a minute," he said, "What about the storm? Ya gotta stop that first! It's outta control and a lot of people are gonna get hurt."

August frowned right back at that.

"Frost can't help with his staff like that, and if Mother Nature dies, it would be a worldwide _disaster._ We should help her first."

"But - " Bunny said.

Jack hugged his staff closer and he cautiously approached Jasper and Lillian as the fight between Bunny and August began to get louder and escalate.

"Lillian?" Jack said hesitantly, as the fight raged on in the background. Distantly, Jack's mind registered shouts of "I can unfreeze her _now!_ " and "What about the kids, ya dingo?!"

"..I.. I'm sorry.. I really didn't mean it," Jack continued as he watched her, his eyes filled with worry.

Lillian had finally stopped sobbing hysterically, but her cheeks were wet with tears, and she couldn't stop shivering uncontrollably. She looked over at Jack with sad eyes.

"..You hurt me." she said softly to him.

Jack bowed his head, his mop of white hair covering his eyes.

"You wouldn't listen to me.. I tried to explain. You were shooting lightning at me."

Jasper had raised eyebrows at this and he looked at Lillian, whom he was still holding in his arms, bridal style.

"You were trying to hit Jack with lightning?" he asked, as he looked around at the raging storm. "Good grief, no wonder the storm is so bad! It has both winter and spring magic in it."

Lillian blushed in embarrassment and looked down at her hands, which were in her lap.

"..Um.." was all she could say. So yeah, she contributed to the storm. But it was for a good reason!

Right?

"Look," Jack said brandishing his staff at her, so she could see it up close. "It's a long story, but my staff got kind of wrecked, and I can't use it to stop the storm. If you would've listened to me in the first place, none of this would have happened."

Lillian looked up at that, her eyes flashing in anger despite her continued shivering.

"YOU were the one who started this storm in the first place! Why would you do that, if your staff isn't working right?!"

Jack flinched back at that, and opened his mouth to reply, but just then they heard August shouting.

"Listen you overgrown rabbit, I can do it right NOW!" August shouted as he grabbed Marin and dragged her over to Mother Nature.

Both of them placed their hands on her and began to glow brightly with the power of summer.

The snow around them began to melt, despite the freezing temperatures.

North, who was trying to get both Bunny and August to see reason and get along, had given up and was watching August try to unfreeze Mother Nature.

"Is going to be difficult for them with all this snow, no?" North said conversationally to Bunny.

Bunny threw up his hands in frustration.

"We should be helpin' out anyone caught in the storm! Or tryin' to get the storm to stop! This is a waste of their magic! They'll probably be too tired to do anythin' to help out now!"

North frowned at that. It was something he hadn't thought of.

Jack, Lillian and Jasper watched as Mother Nature slowly went from looking like a frozen statue, to more like herself.

It took a long time, but eventually all the ice surrounding her melted and she collapsed into August's arms.

Surprised, August caught her and scooped her up into his arms.

"M-Mother..?" he asked, as he gazed down at her.

Surely she wasn't..

Mother Nature was very cold to the touch, and even August's natural warmth wasn't enough for her. She trembled as her body was wracked with shivers.

"..A..August.." she said weakly. She looked around to see the storm was still raging on. Normally she could have tried to help stop it, but now she wasn't in any condition to do much of anything.

She laid her head against August's shoulder.

"..Jack.. has to stop this.." she said quietly to August.

August could only hear her over the storm, because she was speaking close by his ear.

"It won't be that easy," August said to her. "Frost's staff is.. weird," he finished after a pause. "He can't control it anymore."

Mother Nature frowned at this.

"Let me see it," she said, a hint of her former authoratative voice appearing.

Instead of demanding that Frost come over, he simply carried Mother Nature over to him.

Marin, meanwhile, was looking very tired and very cold. She used a good portion of her energy up trying to help Mother Nature. She didn't know how August could have the strength to carry Mother Nature at all.

Marin wrapped her arms around herself and she shivered. Summer spirits were not meant to be in all this cold! Not to mention she was still in her flimsy summer dress and sandals. She simply didn't have any winter attire she could change into, and she knew before long she would be looking pretty blue too.

She was surprised when a heavy blanket was draped around her shoulders and a very Russian hat was plunked down on her head.

She looked around to see who did that and saw North smiling at her. She hadn't even heard him walk over, but then again, they did have a huge blizzard raging all around them.

"Is not good to have a Summer spirit popscicle, da?" he said kindly to her.

Marin gave the Guardian a gratetful smile as she drew the blanket closer around her shoulders.

Mother Nature gently held out her hands towards Jack.

"Let me see your staff, Jack," she said to him, her voice betraying how weak she felt.

Jack handed her his staff, the guilt practically radiating off of him.

"..I'm.. I'm sorry.." Jack said to her.

Mother Nature however, was carefully looking over the staff. She recognized the magic that was used on it.

Decay..

 _Gethen._

She looked sharply over at Jack.

"What were you doing with the spirit of decay, Jack?" she asked him, trying to inject some strength into her voice.

Jack flinched again and looked down at the snow. It was better than looking at what surely would be Mother Nature's accusing eyes.

"..He had two Spring Spirits take me there.." Jack said to the snow. "He's keeping all kinds of spirits and sprites captive. He threatened to destroy my staff and kill all the Winter Sprites and Spirits if I didn't do what he wanted."

"What?!" Lillian yelped in surprise and anger. "He.. he..! That.. Ohhh, when I get my hands on him," she said as she clenched her fists.

Mother Nature frowned deeply at this and looked down at Jack's staff.

"I think we can repair your staff, but it will take all of our Seasonal magic combined to do so. The Man in the Moon cannot help you this time, since the moon is obscured with all this snow."

She looked around at the gathered Seasonals.

"Jasper, August. Place your hands on the staff and concentrate your powers into it. Focus on the magic in the staff, and reach out to it with your powers. Jack and Lillian, I ask you to do the same. Even if you are tired or hurt, you must do this. It is the only way we can save the staff and combat this storm."

August and Jasper exchanged an uneasy look, but both of them placed their hands on the staff. Jack and Lillian followed suit, and soon Lillian's bracelet was glowing with her spring powers, as she tried with all her might to focus on the staff and not on her poor, frozen foot. She really hoped August wouldn't be too tired afterwards to unfreeze it.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut as he held onto his staff for dear life.

 _Please..._

 _Please work.._

The staff began to glow with all the different magic combined, being poured into it.

August concentrated hard, knowing that they weren't doing this just to help out Frost, but also to help end this terrible blizzard. He already felt pretty drained from saving Mother Nature, and he knew that even after all this, they still had a lot of work to do. He wasn't sure he would be up for it.

Jasper poured all the essence of Fall into the staff, while thinking of the fall trees and how they managed to stay strong, despite losing all their leaves after they changed colors.

Lillian thought very hard about trees in the spring, and how they grew and poured all of that into her concentration on the staff.

Mother Nature, who was still holding Jack's staff, began to concentrate as well.

Once all of their magic was combined into the staff, it began to glow even more brightly than before.

"What are they doin'?" Bunny asked in a huff.

Marin, who was standing by Bunny and North blinked in surprise.

"They're using all their Seasonal magic on the staff," she said as they continued to watch. "Jack did keep saying it was broken. Maybe their magic can fix it."

She tilted her head in confusion.

"But all the Seasonal magic contradicts one another. Winter doesn't get along with Summer or Spring, so the magic combined would be volatile.." she trailed off as she continued to watch. "Oh! But Mother Nature balances it all out, so her powers must stop them from being too.." she paused, trying and failing to think of a word for this. "..Clashy."

Bunny exchanged a look with North at this, and both refrained from saying anything on Marin's choice of words.

As all the Seasonals and Mother Nature concentrated on the staff, the glowing grew very bright, and then ceased.

When they all looked at the staff, they were surprised to see that their symbols were all etched onto the front of it now, just below the crook.

In a diamond pattern, there was a spring flower, a sun, a leaf and a snowflake. And behind it all, was the Earth, Mother Nature's symbol, as she stood for all the seasons and the well being of the world.

Tears welled up in Jack's eyes as he saw that his staff was as good as new. Their powers seeped into the wood and made it whole again, and strong. It was no longer two halves fighting one another - it was whole.

Jack received his staff from Mother Nature and hugged it to himself.

"..Thank you.." he said to the other Seasonals. He never thought that they would do such a thing for him. Maybe they could all get along after all.

Mother Nature rested her head back against August's shoulder, feeling more drained than she ever had.

"..Now.. you must all work together to stop the storm.. Lillian and August.. You two must pair up. Concentrate on raising the temperature. Jack.. I want you to focus on dissipating the storm. Jasper, use your fall magic to raise the temperature as well. After the storm has ended and the snow melted, you must all go to the other areas of the world and make the temperature as it should.."

Mother Nature trailed off. She felt her eyes closing, as she struggled to stay awake.

"I should.. return home..." she murmured. She felt herself being passed off to someone, and she was gently set down somewhere, where something heavy and warm was draped over her.

Unbeknownst to her, she was passed off by August to North, and North had set her down in the sleigh, since he wasn't sure where else to put her. He had draped his own heavy coat after her, since Marin had use of their spare blanket at the moment. It was a good thing North was so used to these cold temperatures.

"Alright, you heard Mother," August said as he eyed Lillian.

Lillian still looked upset and tried moving her frozen leg to no avail.

"Can you fix my foot first?" she asked August. "I don't think I can stand on it."

August sighed, since he was already feeling very weary. But instead of arguing as he usually would, he just walked over and placed a hand on her leg.

He winced at the deep cold he felt, but poured his hot summer magic into it quickly, hoping to get this over with as soon as he could.

They were very lucky that they had access to such magic and that Spirits were a lot harder to kill than normal humans, he mused to himself as he watched the blue leave Lillian's leg, and it turned mostly back to normal.

Lillian winced as her leg started tingling badly. Was this how Mother Nature felt? Ugh.

Once Lillian's leg looked mostly normal, Jasper gently set her down on her feet.

Lillian wobbled and nearly fell over. She lifted her foot off the ground and rotated her ankle with a wince. At least she could move it now. It would probably be alright with a few days of rest, she thought.

But she still remembered who was behind this all. The spirit of decay.

Gethen.

She looked up at August seriously.

"I'll help with the temperatures, but there's something I have to do first," she said to him.

August started to protest, but a big flower magically grew out of the snow and ate Lillian, and then disappeared back down into the ground.

"Seriously?!" August complained as he saw the flower shrink down.

* * *

Author's Note: _Sorry,_ sorry for the cliffhanger, but I stopped there and realized the chapter was getting on in length. When I realized how much longer the next part was going to be, I decided to cut it off there. If the next part goes as planned, it should actually be quite long and FINALLY have a resolution to all this angst/Gethen stuff. At least for now! After that, we'll have some fluff, I promise. And toy making! Gotta have the rest of that. Plus Mother Nature still has to talk it out with Jack and Lillian, since she's totally been avoiding them up until now.

As always, let me know what you thought of the chapter and if you have any ideas for future things you'd like to see. I have my own ideas on what's coming up, but it couldn't hurt to have more.

 **Edit:** Fixed some errors. Ugh.


	72. Chapter Fifty-Seven: Lillian's Revenge

Author's Note: To make up for my very long absence, here's an extra long chapter! It's a long story, but I had some health issues that prevented me from writing for a few weeks. I had actually started this chapter and got partway through it before the issues came along. Then when I was in front of my computer again, I realized I didn't like where the story was going since I had something planned for the future and realized I kinda wrecked it. It wasn't anything major, just something cute and I was sad that this change was already posted in the previous chapter, so I have to suck it up. So after sulking for forever about it, I told myself to get over it and finally finished off this chapter.

I realized that my Interlude about Father Time and refrences to the mysterious future plot that I'm eagerly awaiting have been really confusing. CrossoverJunkie was speculating how Jamie brings about the better possibility, which would be an oval mirror. Just so you know, Jamie doesn't bring it about. He will go on this adventure no matter what, and there is a chance he could fail. The letter writer implies that he almost did fail and wishes to help bring about a better ending this time around. Trust me, you'll know when this plot has sprung into action and anything Jamie is doing right now has absolutely nothing to do with it.

DPTTrocks pointed out I forgot an important line in the movie chapters. They were so long ago though that I'm not going back to edit them. I changed so much with the plot that I forgot all about it when the scene was going on. Sorry! Maybe I'll make a reference to it at some point.

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Also, I'm very sorry to tell you that there is MAJOR angst in this chapter. There is also character death, but nothing graphic. If you think it'll be too sad for you, then you can skip it but you''ll miss out on some backstory.

Chapter Fify-Seven: Lillian's Revenge

August turned to Jack with a look that was a mixture of exasperation and disbelief.

"She is so irresponsible! What could she _possibly_ have to do that's more important than fixing this weather?!"

Jack frowned a little at the irresponsible part and shrugged at the rest.

"How should I know? But I'm sure it's important. She knows that we have to fix the weather."

He cheered up when he looked down at his newly fixed staff and gave it a twirl. It looked just like it used to, except for the symbols of all the Seasonals and Mother Nature on the front. To Jack that made it all the more special. It would be a day that he would forever treasure since it was the one where even August, Jasper and Mother Nature all believed in him and wanted to help him.

He grinned a little and gave his staff another twirl. When it had come back to life, it had frosted over yet again, but instead of a weird frost, it was a normal frost. He didn't think he would ever get tired of looking at the symbols on it, and couldn't wait to show it off to the Guardians once everything was over.

He tore his gaze away from his staff to reply to August.

"But I'm ready to warm things up a bit. We can all work together to change the temperature."

Jasper looked uncertain as there was another boom of thunder, followed by a loud crack of lightning.

"Uh.. You guys realize it's still storming, right? There's still spring magic in the storm."

Jack looked up at the clouds and noticed that it was still snowing very heavily due to the thunder snow. If it was warmer out, it'd be pouring.

"If we can get it warm enough, the rain might help get rid of all the snow. Then it'd just be a violent thunderstorm."

It wasn't ideal, but the storm was far too big for Jack to dissipate. He knew he could get the wind to move the storm, but even the storm moving could have consequences that were unforeseen. It wouldn't be a happy time for California, but better one state inconvenienced than other states too or even whole countries.

August frowned at that since while certain parts of California do get some thunderstorms, it was unusual for them to get one _this_ big at this time of the year. It was yet _more_ unusual weather, but what could they do? They would have a trial just getting the weather to the proper temperatures it should be around the world.

Jasper glanced at August.

"So.. raise the temperature?"

August sighed, but realized there was little else they could do.

"I suppose, and try not to get fried in the meantime."

Marin looked up at the sky, shivering in the cold, despite the warm blanket still draped around her shoulders and North's hat still on her head.

"What about the others?"

August shook his head.

"We don't have time to go back home and get them, we have to stop this blizzard."

With that, he moved away from the others to start using his powers to raise the temperature. Marin watched him go in concern since that wasn't what she had meant at all. She was asking about the other sprites and spirits that were being held captive by Gethen.

She looked worried, but after a moment she followed after August. There was little she could do for them all by herself, and she doubted even August could stand against Gethen's powers.

 _I hope they're alright,_ she thought to herself.

As she thought this, Bunny gazed thoughtfully in her direction but then shrugged it off, since a lot of people would be hoping the storm went away. Unlike with Pitch and Sandy, he couldn't hear specific hopes. He could only sense that a person was hoping, or whether or not the hope was newer or older.

Bunny turned towards North, who proclaimed that they should get Mother Nature to the Pole.

"We leave weather up to Jack and his friends, da?" North said as he was starting to shiver a bit in all the cold. Without his hat or coat, he was a little exposed and the cold was finally starting to get to him.

Bunny nodded, then looked around.

"Still wish I knew where Pitch was," he grumbled. "I woulda thought he'd be with Jack, but.."

North waved this aside.

"He will be around. Where Jack and Lillian are, Pitch is not far behind."

* * *

Pitch frowned at a child who was squirming in their bed in discomfort from a horrible nightmare. The boy was dreaming that he had gone outside to play, only to see a frozen wasteland. The wind was biting cold and he could see his breath. The boy turned around to go back in, but the wind had slammed the front door shut behind him. He tried to open the door and for just a moment, it remained stuck. Just as the boy started panicking and _knew_ he was going to freeze, the door was pulled open and the boy hurried inside quickly before slamming the door shut.

As the nightmare was ending, a golden stream of dreamsand floated in through the window and the boy smiled in his sleep as pleasanter dreams took over.

Pitch rolled his eyes at this as this was the third time this had happened. Was Sandy going to undermine all his hard work?! Yes, the nightmares were extra scary, but he had to hammer home to the kids that they could _not_ go outside. He had explained his nightmares before.. But then he noticed that all the nice dreams involved the kids playing inside, and then he knew.

Sandy wasn't undermining his hard work. He was helping to hammer home the point: _stay inside._ He just wanted the kids to get over their fright a little. No sense in having them wet their beds.

With a nod at the golden dreamsand, Pitch melted into the shadows and moved on to the next house. They had a lot of ground to cover.

* * *

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed loudly outside Gethen's lair, but he paid it no mind. He was frowning at his mirror, watching as Mother Nature sat shivering in the sled while North and Bunny traded disappointed looks, as they had missed Pitch's entrance and believed that he hadn't come. He had come so close to causing complete devastation! That witch deserved it. They all did.

He brushed his dark hair out of his eyes impatiently as he had the mirror show him Jack Frost and the other Seasonals. He saw Marin by August and his frown deepened. She was supposed to be out causing more out of season weather, not helping to restore normalcy!

He glanced at the remaining captive spirits and sprites he still had and smirked. Maybe it was time to make good on some of his threats. He had told her what the consequences would be. He had told Jack Frost too, and what did he do? Sure, he created the blizzard and spread the snow like Gethen wanted, but now he was fixing the mess and that could not be tolerated.

He walked towards the cages and stopped in front of the remaining Winter Spirits and Sprites and looked at one in particular. The spirit, the one that had nearly died widened his eyes in horror as Gethen set about opening the cage.

"Your Seasonal didn't listen to me," Gethen said in a soft, dangerous voice. "So it looks like you'll have to pay the price."

"N-No," the spirit whispered in horror. "No!"

Gethen opened the cage and reached out towards the spirit as the spirit cowered at the back of the cage. The remaining sprites spoke angrily in crisp voices at Gethen, but they sounded so very tired and weary. Even the spirit, who was terrified looked so very tired.

As Gethen's hand closed on the wrist of the spirit, the storm raged on even more viciously than it had before. The thunder that boomed sounded as loud as a cannon and a fork of lightning struck near the mouth of his cave.

As he turned to look the entrance of the cave, he could see a large flower retreating into the ground a small girl stood in the middle of the entrance. She was framed by the flashes of lightning and her green eyes were practically glowing in anger.

Half hidden in the shadows and only visible from the flashes of lightning, for just a moment Gethen thought he could see her as the woman she would never become. Filled with righteous anger, Lillian stormed inside the cave like an avenging angel and with her bracelet glowing very brightly with her power she pointed at Gethen.

If she were taller and perhaps not still limping, she would have made a rather fearsome image. As it stood, however, she was only a child and Gethen snorted at the small Seasonal.

"What would the spirit of Spring be doing here?" he asked as he drew away from the Winter Spirit, who sighed in relief. He wasn't sure he could handle disappearing yet _again._

"You hurt Jack! You almost killed me and Mother Nature!" Lillian yelled at him. "You hurt all the sprites and spirits, and all those kids with the weather!"

Gethen looked rather bored at this exclamation.

"So?" he said, clearly not impressed with her display. When she had first arrived, perhaps he had been a bit surprised at the raw power that he had sensed coming from her, but now as he looked at her all he could see was a child throwing a temper tantrum.

As he watched Lillian rage and storm at him, he failed to notice the clouds that were starting to form in the cave, right above his head.

"So you're gonna pay!" Lillian yelled as suddenly a magical wind picked up and began to blow her curls, and cause his dark cloak to flutter. His eyes, which were as black as his hair grew wide as he suddenly noticed the bracelet that was glowing and the static charge that seemed to be building up in the air.

He looked up to see a very, very dark thunder cloud right above his head. As lightning began to crackle in the cloud, causing it to light up ominously with flashes, Gethen's eyes closed on their own as he realized he had nowhere to run.

What good was decay against lightning?

 _Mistral,_ he thought to himself. _Maybe I'll be seeing you soon after all._

* * *

More than three hundred years ago, Gethen Grendal* had approached a beautiful field full of spring flowers. His eyes, which were black like his hair took in the sight and sighed. Not only was it nearly the end of spring, it would soon be time for Summer. Some spring flowers might live, but most wouldn't be able to stand the heat and would wither on their own.

He bent down and gently touched a finger to a delicate petal. It instantly turned an ugly brown and began to wither. He touched more flowers and then with a gesture at the field, it all started to turn from the happy, bright colors to an ugly brown.

Satisfied with his own work, he turned to go, only to see a figure looming over him. Gethen, never particularly tall, looked up with a gulp.

Leif stood glaring at Gethen, his bright blue eyes flashing. He was muscular but lean, wearing an outfit similar to Gethen's, as was the fashion at the time. But while Gethen was all shades of black or dark gray, Leif was full of color and life. His short red hair seemed more suited for a summer spirit and even his name seemed better suited for a fall spirit, but he loved spring with a passion and spent hours lovingly crafting every single spring flower, right down to the last petal. He had in fact just finished creating the very field that Gethen had destroyed.

Hours upon hours undone in mere minutes.

He glared at Gethen with hatred. He despised Gethen more than anything. The spirit was completely useless as far as he was concerned. All he did was _ruin_ everything! He always wrecked Leif's spring flowers, killed off the lovely summer plants that August's spirits and sprites so loved and destroyed Jasper's fall leaves every year, causing them to fall off the trees and turn brittle and crumble.

What all of the Seasonals had failed to realize, of course, was that Gethen was needed to maintain the delicate balance the seasons needed. Gethen was one of the most important spirits of all, but no one appreciated him.

Gethen backed away from Leif and gave him a wavering smile of apology.

"You shouldn't have made all those flowers so close to Summer," he said, not that it did any good as Leif still looked ready to hit him.

"Get out of here," Leif snarled at him.

"I - " Gethen started, but Leif cut him off.

"OUT!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, and Gethen ran.

He ran far away from the field, ignoring the cruel laughter of the spring sprites and the angry trills from others he could hear.

He only stopped when he was certain he was very far away from Leif and plopped down panting under a tree and ran a hand through his long hair, which was coming undone from the low pony tail he had it in.

He cast his eyes down at the ground and stared angrily at the spring green grass upon the ground, which was lush and soft.

It wasn't that long ago that Mother Nature had approached him while he was out in the woods by the house he still lived in with his father. Gethen loved nature, and his favorite pastime was to wander the woods and look at all the various plants. He often brought some paper and some charcoal as he drew the plants he would see, and make notes on them.

He devoured book after book on plants, much to his father's ire as he'd rather have his son helping with the woodcutting instead of wasting all his time in the town library.

It was while Gethen was busy sketching a tree with some interesting looking mushrooms at the base of the trunk when Mother Nature approached him. She looked regal to him somehow and seemed rather otherworldly.

She had explained to him who she was, and he had stared at her in astonishment. There was a _Mother Nature_ and she needed _him?_ Gethen the failed woodcutter? Gethen the short? _Him?_

She had smiled at his disbelief and went on to explain that the Seasons needed more balance. Her Seasonals loved their seasons very much, she had explained, but they needed more separation.

Spring flowers didn't die out properly before Summer took over. Summer flowers grew into Fall and Winter began when Fall leaves still clung desperately to the trees.

They needed a new spirit, one that would bring balance and order. She told Gethen she had been watching him for some time and saw how much he cherished all plants and nature, and how unhappy he was in his life. With a father who wouldn't even try to understand him and considered him a disappointment, combined with his short stature that made the town women laugh behind their hands at him, Gethen's life had been fairly miserable, save for his excursions into the forest.

It hadn't taken long for Gethen to accept Mother Nature's offer and before he knew it, he was exactly the same as he was before, but.. _more._

He had accepted his new job from Mother Nature readily enough and knew how important it was. But apparently none of the Seasonals did, or else they didn't care. They had been outraged at Gethen destroying all their hard work.

Gethen, who loved all the plants very much, had been pained to see them wither and die at his hands. But he reminded himself that Mother Nature needed him to do this. Without the death of the plants at the end of the season, there would be no order. The delicate balance would be undone and it would all turn into chaos.

As Gethen glared down at the ground while still sitting under the tree, he angrily swiped at his eyes as he realized that his vision had grown wavery.

It seemed as if he had traded one miserable life for another.

What was worse, Mother Nature had neglected to tell him where he would be staying as a spirit. He knew he couldn't remain at his father's home, so he had waited until his father was out to fetch a traveling pack and some spare clothes and provisions. After encountering one angry Seasonal and several angry spirits he had traveled further and further away from everyone and everything, before finally stopping at a cave near the base of some cliffs.

The area was rocky and the cave wasn't overly large inside. It would be big enough for some furniture if he chose, and perhaps a mirror or something shiny so he could see his reflection to get ready for the day.

He looked around at the dark interior, the lack of life inside and out amongst all the rock and sighed. This life he now had to deal with didn't seem as glamorous as Mother Nature had made it sound.

Was he doomed to a lifetime of loneliness surrounded by nothing but gloom?

Sometimes he wondered what those Seasonals would think if they knew that Gethen had been secretly watching them. He loved watching Leif carefully crafting the spring flowers, all his love, and devotion going into them. He loved watching the Summer Spirits and Sprites helping the summer plants to grow, and Jasper painstakingly painting each and every single fall leaf on every tree.

He had thought once or twice of even offering Jasper his assistance since all he needed was a paintbrush of his own and the magical paint that Jasper used. But every time Jasper had seen Gethen near his precious leaves, he would shout at Gethen to go away and Gethen would be chased off by angry Fall Sprites.

It was at the beginning of Winter that first year that Gethen had finally caught a break. With no plants to tend to, he could rest for the first time in months. But he was cold, so cold. Even with his warmest cloak wrapped tightly about himself and a small fire going in his cave, the icy winter wind would still sneak in through the opening of his cave. He had yet to find anything suitable for a door. When he would later learn that the Seasonals all had a magical place to call home, he would wonder why he had no such thing.

 _They were so lucky,_ he thought miserably to himself one winter, as he stoked his fire. All they had to do was go out into the weather that best suited them and spread their Seasonal magic around. They could even magically teleport!

Not only did Gethen have to suffer in all sorts of harsh weather while he spread his decay, he had been forced to find his own home. Granted, it was now more homey, but still.

He lived in a _cave._

He flung himself down into a chair with disgust. He had managed to make himself a rudimentary chair and table and had "borrowed" a large rug from a home to make the stone floor warmer and softer.

At least his feet would no longer be cold when he removed his boots. He had been careful to make certain that the rug only partially covered the floor, however, and that there was still room for the fire. Maybe someday he would figure out how to add a fireplace.

 _I'll be an expert in masonry before long,_ he thought sarcastically.

As the years had gone on, Gethen had lost what little pleasure he had in his job. He had started to forget how important it was to maintain the delicate balance and forgot how he had so loved the plants he now destroyed. Instead of secretly watching Leif create spring flowers with pleasure, Gethen now watched Leif just to wait for him to be done with a precious creation so that he could destroy it.

They thought he ruined their creations for the hell of it?

Fine.

He'd give them exactly what they didn't want.

He'd show them who the spirit of decay was.

It was a few more years before Gethen accidentally stumbled upon Mistral. He had gotten turned around on his way back to his cave and was lost in a harsh storm. He could practically feel himself turning blue when he saw a young man standing amidst all the snow. The young man had his arms spread wide and a grin upon his face.

Gethen was about ready to dismiss the young man as completely crazy, when he saw to his amazement that there were several sprites fluttering around the young man, helping to maintain the cold and fuel the blizzard.

The young man was a Seasonal!

It must be the mysterious Winter Seasonal that he kept hearing about. Gethen normally tried to avoid the other spirits and sprites, but he still heard mumblings and grumblings when he went about his job.

Apparently, the Winter Seasonal was rumored to be very evil and enjoyed bringing pain and misery to all the humans. He would often make very cold and harsh blizzards for the sheer misery that they would bring and loved bringing Winter very early and ending it very late.

Gethen, who knew how very cruel the other Seasonals were had no reason to doubt this, since he had suffered winter after winter shivering in his cave, waiting for the dreaded cold to end.

Now he stood in disbelief as he stared at the Seasonal that was no doubt centuries older than he was but looked to be a little younger than him.

It was particularly odd to be surrounded by such young looking magical beings that were actually very old, Gethen had decided.

He had started to back away and try to find another way home when icy blue eyes locked onto his black ones and he froze.

Mistral was wearing a dark blue cloak framed in white with various shades of blue and white for his clothes. His hair, which Gethen had almost expected to be winter white, was actually an unusual gray. It was as if all the color had been drained right out of his hair, and it made Gethen wonder if it had always been that way.

Mistral cocked his head at the short man that stood shivering before him. He looked very cold and very lost. Noticing the blue tinge the man's lips had taken, Mistral let his arm sweep out in an arc to the side, a sharp motion that had the blizzard stopped in an instant.

Gethen blinked as suddenly the wind died, and it suddenly felt several degrees warmer because of it. The snowfall had tapered off rather suddenly to a more gentle snowfall, with delicate flakes drifting down to the ground.

They both stared at one another, one in surprise and the other in cold assessment.

"Who are you?" Mistral finally asked, his voice reminding Gethen of icicles.

Gethen noticed that while Mistral sounded cold and aloof, the Winter Sprites had taken up defensive positions around their Seasonal.

"No one," Gethen answered cautiously. "I.. I got lost on my way home. Who are you?"

The young man looked less than impressed with this answer and the Winter Sprites looked agitated and.. afraid?

"Only a spirit or sprite can see another spirit," Mistral pointed out. "I'll ask you one last time: Who are you?"

Gethen deflated at that and looked down at the ground while still shivering.

"..G-Gethen," he stuttered as he shivered, mumbling more at the snow.

Mistral blinked at that.

"The destroyer?" he asked. "I thought you'd be.. taller."

"Everyone says that," Gethen muttered resentfully, and oh how he hated it.

Mistral continued to look at Gethen.

"I'm Mistral," he said as he approached Gethen to stand in front of him. Gethen pretended he couldn't see the Winter Sprites all glaring at him distrustfully. "I heard you wreck all the other Seasons and ruin the other Seasonals' fun."

Gethen had quickly looked up at that and opened his mouth to give an angry retort when the malicious grin that lit up Mistral's face stopped him cold.

"Good," Mistral said viciously. "I think we'll get along just fine."

And so they had.

Mistral not only had helped Gethen find his way home but now he always made certain that the Winter near Gethen's place was always less harsh than elsewhere and that the wind was soft or practically non-existent near the cave.

Gethen had even gone on several trips with Mistral, while Mistral spread Winter. He noticed that Mistral didn't create harsh blizzards to hurt the humans, but did so because he genuinely enjoyed spreading Winter. Gethen could see the joy it brought Mistral to see the snowflakes falling from the sky.

Perhaps Mistral was a bit over enthusiastic, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, right?

So where Gethen's winters were once full of misery, they now became one of the happier times in his life as he enjoyed spending time with his new and only friend.

It was several years later when that had all come to an end.

He had been out with Mistral one winter when the young man had suddenly gasped in pain and clutched at his chest.

"What is it?" Gethen asked in concern.

 _Mistral?_ a Winter Sprite chirped in concern.

Mistral tried to speak, but an agonized look crossed his face and he gasped again in pain instead. To Gethen's surprise and horror, he could see that Mistral was starting to fade.

"Mistral!" he cried out. "What's happening, what's wrong?!"

"She chose someone else," Mistral managed to gasp out. "She doesn't think I'm good enough.."

"What?" Gethen said in a trembling voice as he could suddenly see the landscape _through_ his friend.

"M-Mother Nature," Mistral said, his voice sounding weak and thin. "She chose a new.. Winter Spirit.."

"No..!" Gethen said as he tried to grab Mistral, but his hand just went through him. "She can't! Don't go..!"

Mistral managed a sad smile at his friend before with one final gasp, he completely faded away.

Gethen stared at the spot where his only friend had stood and collapsed down onto his knees in the snow.

"..Don't leave me.." he said brokenly, but the only reply was the Winter Wind, as it started to howl for its lost master.

It was not long after that, that all the Winter Spirits and Sprites had mysteriously vanished, and over the next several years, Leif, Jasper, and August had puzzled over their own Spirits and Sprites' disappearances.

While Jack Frost was getting the hang of spreading Winter, Leif quietly vanished from the scene and Spring was left unattended for several hundred years, leaving the weather to naturally change on its own. WIth no Spirit to help guide it, the spring was often very cold and lackluster.

And when the new Child of Spring had been created, Gethen watched Leif fade away, his black eyes showing no remorse. All he could think of was his friend that had faded away because of these Seasonals' whining to Mother Nature.

He remembered all the times that Leif had chased after himself and threatened him, all because he was doing his own job. He remembered the utter _misery_ these Seasonals had made his life as a spirit, and he remembered Mistral telling him the same. That no one understood his job as a Winter Spirit. They all thought of him as a murderer.

So Gethen had watched Leif fade away with a sort of vicious glee.

One down, three to go.

Even though Jack Frost couldn't help his creation, Gethen still hated him anyway. And without even realizing it, Gethen treated Jack Frost exactly the way he had been treated.

And so Jack Frost knew nothing but misery and isolation until he met one Child of Spring.

As Gethen had observed the pair in his enchanted mirror he had acquired over the years, he had decided that they would be one of the first ones to go. He couldn't stand watching their friendship and _happiness_ , not one that reminded him so much of the one that he had had.

The one that Jack Frost had helped snatch away.

So Gethen's treatment of the very sprites and spirits he had once considered friends, the Winter Sprites, and Spirits, grew worse. He didn't care when most of them faded away and he took particular pleasure when most of the Spring Sprites and Spirits were gone.

He just didn't care anymore.

The part of him that had once cared had been ripped away when he saw Mistral fade. The last vestiges of his compassion had been whipped away in that howling winter wind.

Now he hated everyone and everything, and he would make them _suffer._

* * *

Gethen could hear the sizzle of lightning approaching, as scenes of his life flashed before his eyes. He could picture meeting Mistral for the first time and all the fun they had throughout the years. A bitter smile crossed his face but was soon replaced by a grimace of pain as the lightning struck him.

Gethen had expected to die an agonizing death as soon as he realized what the Child of Spring was up to. She had looked so angry, and he knew that it was what he would have done. But what he failed to realize was that while Lillian was very, _very_ angry, she was also very good. She would _never_ kill anyone or anything. Not even what she considered a bad guy.

So Gethen's eyes had opened wide when he felt the lightning strike him.. _in the butt.  
_

He had given a startled yelp of pain and jumped, but it was no more harmful than being hit by a taser. Realizing he was outmatched, Gethen did something he hadn't done in years.

He ran away from a Seasonal.

Lillian had watched with satisfaction as Gethen was chased out of his home by her little storm cloud, as he was repeatedly hit in the butt with lightning.

Serves him right!

After Lillian had used her powers to blast off the locks from all the cages and freed all the Spirits and Sprites, Gethen lay in a heap on the ground far from his home but still within the isolated area of death and decay.

He coughed and tried to catch his breath as he lay flat on his back, various parts of him singed black from the lightning, his outfit in tatters.

He clenched his fists as he glared up at the dark and cloudy sky and swore he would get his revenge.

He would make her _pay._

* * *

Very far away, in a room full of mirrors on the walls, Father Time watched sadly as Lillian ignored the warning letter that had been sent and set in motion the very disaster he had been hoping to avoid.

He had watched the events unfold in the diamond mirror with growing trepidation.

Diamond mirrors, he decided, were not much better than square ones. He only hoped Jamie Bennett would be up for the task. He glanced at the set of mirrors further down the wall that ended in squares and shivered.

No, he didn't want to see what would happen if Jamie were to fail.

Deciding he had enough of his Room of Possibilities, for now, Father Time hastily walked away from the mirrors, carefully avoiding the square one that showed a once again very evil Pitch Black, viciously fighting the Guardians.

If Gethen had his way, Father Time knew, then all the good the Child of Spring had done would be undone. He only hoped that the outcome wouldn't end in a square mirror.

He hated when that happened.

* * *

*Just a reminder that Gethen's name came completely from googling evil names, and no, I didn't know the significance of it and it is not an intentional reference to anything.

Author's Note: Fun Fact: The entire part with Gethen's flashback was going to be an Interlude. It originally started off from Leif's point of view and was going to be written purely because I wanted to see what Leif would be like when he was alive and how he would interact with the others and Gethen. Leif comes off as very cold and cruel in this, but that's not really his nature. He just really loves Spring and all the flowers he put so much hard work into and Gethen's ruining that rubs him the wrong way. I just like showing how my good guys aren't all good. I like having them flawed because it shows that they're more human. The same goes with Gethen too. Even though he's your typical bad guy, I wanted to show how he wasn't always that way. It's also interesting how Jack seemed to be on the very same path as Gethen, but he was rescued from Gethen's fate by Lillian and Pitch Black of all people.

The part with Father Time at the end hints once again and future plot and hints a bit about what could happen. Hm! Anyway, instead of jumping right into it, the next few chapters will be more fluffy cuteness. We'll have the final tidbits of the storm getting cleared up and what's going to happen with Mother Nature, etc.

I'm still working on HP and the Child of Spring. I started that one before life got in the way too, but I wrote myself into a corner. I wanted some poltergeist fun in there, but made him kind of lame so now I have to go back in and edit it before I can continue. Sigh! Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter and don't think the insert about Gethen was too distracting from the plot.


	73. Chapter Fifty-Eight: Snl Slumber Party

Author's Note: I couldn't resist posting another chapter, since I know I'll be pretty busy during the week and most likely unable to post another one. So, **if you haven't read chapter 57 yet, go back and read it.** I posted this chapter one day after the last one. Man, I haven't done that in forever and it feels pretty awesome. This chapter has the resolution to the storm in it, as well as what became of Tooth since she was absent during all the drama. I'm sorry for cutting it off when I did but it seemed to be getting fairly long. I promise I won't wait for months and months to post the next one? Also, I had some fun naming a few Spirits in this. I'm sorry if it's too many names to keep track of, but I couldn't have only Marin and Lucian as the named Spirits in this. All the names were googled, so they all have something to do with their respective season.

Thanks, CrossoverJunkie for the art reference. I really liked it. :) And for the cute scene with Bunny and Pitch. I should totally have something like that happen in the future!

Now on with the fic!

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Seasonal Slumber Party

Lillian had to create another small thunderstorm in the cave to get the other spirits and sprites free. She used lightning to blast the locks off the cages, causing the Spring Spirits to glance at one another. Why hadn't Leif done that?

But before they could wonder further about that, an ecstatic Winter Spirit had scooped Lillian up into his arms the second he was free.

"You saved us!" he practically shouted in her ear as he squeezed the life out of her. "You saved us!"

"Oof!" Lillian replied while she struggled to breathe. But she had a grin on her face as she was stolen away by a Fall Spirit who had also hugged the life out of her. She was passed off to the Summer Spirits and finally, the Spring Spirits, the very ones who had kidnapped Jack, in fact, had Lillian between them as they hugged her.

The female Spring Spirit had tears in her eyes as she hugged Lillian more delicately than the others had.

"We didn't think we'd ever get out of here," she sobbed as she cradled Lillian in her arms. "We didn't think we'd ever meet you."

Lillian looked up at her Spring Spirits awkwardly. She didn't know what to do with them since she was so used to spreading Spring all by herself.

Then she suddenly remembered! The weather!

"We gotta get to California!" she exclaimed to them all from the Spring Spirit's arms. "There's a bad blizzard there and we have to stop it!"

"A blizzard?" the Spring Spirit said hesitantly.

A Summer Spirit gasped at that.

"That's where Marin went! She could be in danger!"

The remaining Summer Sprites exchanged worried glances. Was she ok? She wouldn't last very long in the cold and the snow.

The Winter Spirit frowned as he recalled Gethen's orders to Jack.

"Gethen forced Jack Frost to do it. Gethen said he would kill us all if he didn't. It was the threat he used on all the Spirits to get them to do his bidding."

Lillian frowned again.

"Man, he is _evil!_ It makes me want to find him and fry his butt again!"

The Spring Spirit half smiled at that and set Lillian down on her feet.

"You need to focus. Blizzard, remember?"

"Oh!" Lillian exclaimed as she suddenly remembered. She went to walk further away from everyone to the center of the cave, but she almost fell as she was still awkward on her foot that had been frozen.

"You're injured," the male Spring Spirit said with dismay. None of the Spirits or Sprites liked to see their Seasonal injured or in distress.

"It's a long story," Lillian said as she limped to the middle of the cave. She looked around at them and noticed while there weren't a lot of Spirits or Sprites, there were enough that it would make traveling with them all a pain.

Could she make more than one Flower of Doom? She was already feeling tired from almost dying earlier and using her powers like that..

Speaking of powers, she noticed that her little storm clouds were still floating in the air and happened to be raining all over Gethen's rug.

Whoops.

She had her bracelet glow and pointed at the clouds. With a dismissive wave of her hand, the clouds dissipated and vanished.

She looked at all the Spirits and Sprites again.

"Can you guys travel on your own?" she asked hopefully, but that hope faded when they all looked so tired.

"The Spirits can," the female Spring Spirit piped up. "But we've been locked up so long and it's really tiring for us to do anymore."

"I can take some of you with me," Lillian said, but her voice sounded doubtful, "but not _all_ of you."

She noticed that the Spring and Winter Spirits and Sprites looked the most ragged of the bunch.

"If I try to take Spring and Winter with me, can Summer and Fall go on their own?" she asked.

"We'll freeze!" a Summer Spirit exclaimed. "We can't go out into a _blizzard._ "

"Jack, Japser and August are all working together to make the blizzard go away," Lillian said as she frowned a bit at the Summer Spirit. "It might not be so bad now. Besides, it's your _job_ to help August! Since they're all in one spot, we have to go there too," she added decisively.

Lillian gestured at the Spirits and Sprites, beckoning them to her.

"So Spring and Winter, come here please!"

The Spring Spirits and Sprites all looked at one another a little worriedly, but their Seasonal was asking. Little Lillian wasn't Leif, but they still felt compelled to listen to her. They followed after the Winter Spirits and Sprites.

"Gather around me as close as you can," Lillian instructed.

While they were doing this, Lillian turned back to the others and gave directions on where exactly in California Jack and the other Seasonals were located. Once she was finished, she gave them a grin.

"See you there!" she called out happily.

With that, her bracelet began to glow and the largest Flower of Doom yet grew out of the ground. The little Sprites all stared at the enormous flower, which was a giant pink tulip as it loomed over them ominously. They all began to scream in terror as the flower reached down and in one big gulp, it swallowed them all whole. It then disappeared harmlessly back into the stone ground as if it had never existed.

"That is terrifying," one Summer Spirit said with a shiver.

"We better get going," a Fall Spirit pointed out.

The spirits gathered their season's Sprites together and soon they had all vanished as well, in various flames and fall leaves.

* * *

Back in California, Jack, August, and Jasper had spread out to try and raise the temperatures. They formed a sort of triangle and in the middle of it all Lillian appeared with the other Spirits and Sprites. Marin was the first to spot them and she let out a loud cheer as she stopped using her summer magic to hug onto August's arm.

"They're back!" she squealed happily. "They're all back!"

"What are you talking about?" August started to complain, but he turned to where Marin was looking at and his jaw dropped. "What the - "

Jack and Jasper had both turned at Marin's exclamation as well and stared at the now various Spirits and Sprites that had all appeared with her.

"I told you that you'd be fine," Lillian said as she patted a few Spring Sprites that were traumatized from the trip. A few had landed on her shoulders and were clinging desperately to her as if afraid that they would fade away in fright.

Lillian noticed that everyone was looking at her and she grinned in triumph at them.

"Told you I'd be back!" she said smugly to the other Seasonals. "I gave Gethen a taste of his own medicine, and look what I found! He was keeping all the Spring and Winter Spirits and Sprites captive! He even had some Summer and Fall ones too!"

"Crispin?" Jasper said in disbelief. "Kale? Laurel? You.. you're alive! I thought.. I thought you all faded."

Jasper's tone of disbelief took on a tinge of sadness as he stared at all his Fall Spirits. The truth was that he had very few left in his special forest, and he had to take on more duties for fall because of it. Since his precious Spirits kept disappearing on him and he had so few left, he had asked the ones he did have to remain in the forest and help look after his little Sprites.  
He felt terrible for choosing to protect his Spirits over his Sprites, but he had more Sprites.. Now he would no longer have to choose. He hugged all his Spirits as they rushed over to him and he clung to them fiercely. He used to have over a dozen Spirits, and now he had less than half left.

 _Gethen did this,_ Jasper thought to himself as he tightened his hold on his Spirits. _He hurt all of them. I'm glad Lillian got retribution for this. He deserves it and more._

Jasper normally wasn't very vindictive, but he was protective of his Spirits and Sprites. It never once ocurred to him that if he had treated Gethen better, that this could have been prevented.

"J-Jasper!" Laurel gasped out with a half-laugh. "I can't breathe!"

Jasper released them with a sheepish grin. Since Jasper looked young for a Seasonal (Jack Frost's Fall twin and all), his Spirits all looked much older than him. It was very strange to see, but they seemed to be quite used to it. The Spirits all had various shades of fall colors for their hair, with various browns and reds. The little Sprites had all flown over as well and now were resting on the various shoulders of the Spirits, but most had chosen to fly over to their Seasonal, and now Jasper had more than a few Sprites on his own shoulders and some were even resting on his head or in his brown hoodie.

August and Marin were in a similar position as the Summer Sprites and Spirits had all migrated over to them. Marin grinned at them all happily, ignoring the weather which had gone from snow to a sort of freezing rain. She had the blanket over her head to form a sort of hood to cover her hair and she opened the blanket a bit more to allow some Summer Sprites to rest safely on her shoulders, so they would be sheltered a bit from the rain.

"Dax?" August said, blinking. He hadn't seen the Summer Spirit for several years, but Dax was busy checking Marin over.

"Are you alright?" Dax asked her anxiously. He held her by the arms and seemed to be examining every inch of her.

"D-Dax..!" Marin exclaimed as she tried to pull away from him. "I'm fine! Really!"

Dax didn't seem convinced as his greyish-blue eyes were filled with concern. The wind whipped his hair, which was much darker than Marin's. While Marin had orangeish blond hair, Dax's hair was more of a darker blond, almost brown. Unlike August, he preferred to have a more modern look and kept his hair shorter, but not _too_ short. It was shorter than his shoulders, but long enough that he had to keep brushing it out of his eyes.

He had a bit of a surfer look to him, since he was wearing a bright t-shirt with a pair of shorts and sandals on his feet. Normally he'd be very comfortable in this attire, but now he was freezing cold. He ignored this however, as he looked at Marin earnestly.

"Are you sure?" he asked her. "What did Gethen make you do?"

August rolled his eyes at Dax, since he had already had words with Marin and they had things mostly sorted out. He hadn't been happy with her, but even he could deduce that Gethen had been behind all the strange behavior, since he was holding all those Spirits and Sprites captive.

"We don't have time for any of this!" he exclaimed impatiently, as all the Seasonals, Spirits and Sprites turned to him as one. "We have a storm to stop, or did you forget?!" he shouted as he waved impatiently at the stormy sky.

"Yeah!" Lillian said from one of her spirits' arms. The spirit had scooped her up possessively when Jack had come over by them. "All the Spirits and Sprites who feel up to helping need to help bring up the temperature! If you feel too bad then don't help out and we'll get you guys out of here as soon as we can!"

So with that, Lillian was set back on her feet and she and the other Seasonals went about trying to raise the temperature.

They managed to do it in the end as the weather went from freezing rain to eventually just plain rain. The thunderstorm was definitely a severe one, but Lillian had coaxed some of her spirits into helping her tame the storm a bit.

By the end of it, they were all completely drenched and wind blown from the storm. Lillian was panting with the exertion of using so much of her powers like that as she brushed some damp curls from her face.

"'K-Kay," she said sounding very tired. "Now.. Now we gotta.. fix the temperatures."

She looked around at the other Seasonals who all looked as exhausted as she felt. None more so than Jack and August, who had been using their powers extensively before they even began to battle the storm.

"We can split up for that," Jasper piped up. "Fall and Spring can help raise the temperatures or lower them. Winter can lower the temperatures where it's too hot, and Summer can raise them where it's too cold."

"I'm going to need a spa day after this," August grumbled as he looked more like a drowned Sun God than anything else.

Dax smirked at his Seasonal at that, as he had forgotten just how vain August Bay could really be. He sidled up to Marin, who was sticking close to August. He hooked an arm companionably through hers and called out: "I call dibs on Texas!" as he vanished in a spurt of flames with her.

Everyone could hear her exasperated cry of "Dax!" as they disappeared.

August rolled his eyes and looked at the remaining Summer Sprites.

"We'll take care of Florida, I suppose."

So one by one, the Seasonals all vanished as they stated their destinations, determined to fix the weather channel that Gethen had broken.*

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Pole, North and Bunny had arrived with Mother Nature and had rushed her off to a room. They had piled many warm blankets on her and North had instructed his yetis to put a lot of warm water bottles in the bed near her.

Phil was helping out too, and nobody seemed to notice that he had two Winter Sprites perched on his shoulders. Phil had rescued Neve and Neva not long after North and Bunny had rushed off. Even though the cooler had flown out of the shadow near Bunny's feet, neither he nor North had taken any notice of the cooler as they had other worries on their mind at the time.

 _Will Mother Nature be alright?_ Neva asked Neve worriedly.

Neve looked at Mother Nature, who seemed to be asleep for now. She looked pale and cold, but she was alive. He nodded and gave Neva a reassuring smile.

 _She'll be better after she rests,_ he said in his crisp, cool voice.

Phil, even though he was a yeti, couldn't understand the language of Winter any better than anyone else, so he ignored the Sprites' chatter as he put one last blanket on Mother Nature.

"Crikey, ya might as well turn yer workshop into a hospital," Bunny said as he watched the yetis dash around.

"Da," North said in agreement. "But first we help sick Jack and Lillian and now Mother Nature. I cannot turn the away."

"I know," Bunny said. "What about the others though? Where are they gonna go?"

"Others?" North looked at Bunny curiously. They were standing near the doorway to the room that Mother Nature was being helped in.

"The other Seasonals!' Bunny said exasperatedly. "And the Spirits and Sprites."

They didn't yet know about the ones that had been rescued by Lillian, but they knew that everyone would be dangerously exhausted after fixing everything.

North looked puzzled and shrugged.

"They will return to their own homes?" he suggested. "I have room, but North Pole is not good for Summer Spirits or Sprites."

Bunny gave a shiver at that and nodded. He couldn't wait to get back to his Warren finally. It was a few hours after that, that Pitch and Sandy finally turned up. Tooth, who of course had no idea of the epic showdown that took place, had gone back to her Palace after finishing up tooth collecting. She had heard there were storms in California and so had decided to wait until they had died down to go there.

"Sandy! Pitch!" North exclaimed. He and Bunny were sitting in arm chairs by the fire, debating on whether or not they should return to California. North had said that they should leave it up to Jack, while Bunny had been determined to go and see if there were any stranded people or kids that needed help. North had said that it was still the middle of the night and what kid would be out in _that_ weather then?

Bunny had been about ready to retort when Sandy's golden biplane touched down, just as Pitch stepped out of the shadows of the globe.

Pitch dusted off his hands as Sandy got out of his plane.

"Where have you two been?!" Bunny said, his tone slightly accusing as he looked mostly at Pitch.

Pitch frowned and went to reply to Bunny, but Sandy beat him to it as several golden symbols appeared over Sandy's head.

"Wait, wait.. Slow down my friend!" North said as he tried to read the rapidly changing symbols.

So Sandy slowed down and North gave a big grin at that.

"So you and Pitch were spreading dreams and Nightmares to keep children inside and away from storm!"

Bunny stopped looking at Pitch suspiciously at that and looked surprised.

"You were?" he said, starting to feel a tad guilty for immediately suspecting the worst.

Pitch gave Bunny a look at that.

"I _did_ explain the purpose of my nightmares, didn't I? Jack and Lillian are safe and are fixing the storm and the temperatures as we speak. In fact, the storm was much better when Sandy and I left. The temperatures were much higher and the heavy rain was helping to melt the snow."

"Good!" North exclaimed as he clapped his hands. "This calls for celebration! And eggnog!"

Sandy happily accepted a mug of eggnog, the only one besides North to do so. Pitch asked an elf for tea, while Bunny took a mug with a carrot in it.

"How is Mother Nature?" Pitch attempted to ask North casually, but his slightly trembling hands gave him away. He held his mug of tea more tightly and his voice sounded strained. It had already been a long night and it wasn't even over yet.

"She's restin'," Bunny said. "The yetis are lookin' after her. August and his Summer Spirit unfroze her and we decided ta take her back to the Pole with us."

Pitch nodded, looking relieved at this. When he had seen that storm was much better, he had been half afraid that Mother Nature had been left frozen and would still be at that spot in California.

Sandy looked at Pitch and made some golden Zzz's appear over his head. Then he followed it up by miming someone sleeping.

Pitch narrowed his eyes at the Guardian. He knew what Sandy was hinting at and he wasn't having any of it.

"If you think for one minute that I'm sleeping when my children are still out there, fixing this weather..!" Pitch hissed in anger.

Sandy held up his hands to say he meant no harm, but he could see how exhausted Pitch was. Even he was pretty tired.

But Pitch refused to go to sleep, and not wanting to leave Pitch alone in his vigil, the other Guardians remained in the room with him as they all sipped their mugs and waited for the two child spirits to return.

* * *

Jamie woke up the next morning, completely unaware that Pitch had been at his house last night and his mom had decided that Jamie didn't need to know either. After he had eaten his breakfast, Jamie had settled down in front of the tv to see if there was any news on about the strange weather.

He was completely astonished to see footage of the storm in California and even more so when he clearly saw Jack and Lillian in the background. Later on in other clips, he could even see Pitch and Sandy, plus North and Bunny!

He hurriedly scrambled for his DVR remote and recorded what he could. He also raced off for his cell phone so he could text the other kids.

They wouldn't believe this!

* * *

It was one day after Jamie's news revelation that all the Seasonals had finally turned up at the Pole. Pitch had been going out of his mind with worry, but the other Guardians had all assured Pitch that it would take a long time for them to get the weather of the entire world completely fixed.

Tooth had eventually turned up too, and helped out in trying to calm Pitch down, but Pitch refused to be comforted until he could see his children again. Mother Nature was still mostly bedridden as she was recovering and with one child sick and two missing, he was extremely short tempered and kept snapping at anyone who tried to speak to him.

They were all surprised when Jack, Lillian, Jasper and August all appeared in a heap in the globe room. It was Lillian who had convinced them to go to the Pole, since Mother Nature was recuperating there. The others had seen North and Bunny take off with her, so it seemed to Lillian the most logical place to go for now.

Shortly after the Seasonals appeared, the other Spirits and Sprites appeared as well, and they all lay on the floor too tired to move.

"..'M never moving again.." Lillian mumbled sleepily. She had her head resting on Jack and looked likely to fall asleep where she was. She could hear footsteps hurrying towards them, but she was too tired to open her eyes.

"..Pitch..?" Jack said wearily, as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He was laying on the floor but his head was turned and he could see Pitch's feet coming towards them.

Pitch looked down at them worriedly.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

Bunny toed Jasper with a foot as he and the other Guardians had rushed over as well.

"What are you all doin' here?" he asked the mostly unconscious Seasonals.

August was down for the count, so Jasper was the one that answered.

"..Mother.. Nature.." he explained, his voice hardly above a whisper.

"Crikey," Bunny said with a shake of his head. "Did ya think we couldn't take care of her? What are we supposed ta do with you all?! North ain't got the beds for _everyone._ "

"We will make room!" North exclaimed. "Will be slumber party for Seasonals! Is much fun!"

He gave Bunny a look and Bunny realized that the yetis would be able to keep an eye on everyone and make sure they got their proper rest. Bunny could help with the checks too, just in case.

Marin shivered as she still had North's hat on. She and the others had dried out as the days wore on, but they hadn't time to change their clothes and they were in the North Pole now.

"..Cold.." she mumbled as she tried to use Dax and August as blankets.

"Right!" North said authoritatively. "We get everyone to bed! Bunny, you grab Spring! Pitch will grab Jack and Lillian! Tooth, you get Summer and I will take Fall!"

And so it didn't take long before the Seasonals and their various Spirits and Sprites were all housed in North's guest rooms. North really didn't have enough beds, so all the Spirits and Sprites were piled into the rooms with their respective Seasonal. The Seasonal got the bed and the rest had to bunk on the floor.

With each Season to their own room, their powers naturally leaked out and helped keep the room at the optimal temperature for themselves. So while the Seasonals were all resting and recovering the Guardians all held an impromptu meeting in the globe room.

"You know, Jack did much to help save the children of the world by restoring the weather to how it should be," North said as he looked proud.

Tooth nodded her agreement.

"He is _totally_ Guardian material."

Bunny looked thoughtful.

"We have been gettin' on better with him. Ya think we should ask again after he's rested?"

"Da," North said happily. "Is time to make Jack a Guardian!"

Sandy waved his hands around and golden symbols appeared above his head.

Bunny stared at Sandy and spluttered in shock.

"Ya can't be serious!"

Sandy gave Bunny a look that said he was dead serious. He made a golden symbol of the moon appear over his head to indicate that the Man in the Moon would agree with him.

Tooth interjected while Bunny continued to splutter.

"You guys did say that he helped out a lot to protect the children," she said as she glanced at Bunny.

"He spends as much time here as any of us," North said with amusement. "We can add him to ceremony!"

Bunny looked beside himself at that.

"..But.. but.. _Pitch?!_ A Guardian?!"

* * *

Lillian opened her eyes the next day to see a pair of worried lilac ones staring down at her. She gave a puzzled frown until she blinked and suddenly she saw a Spring Spirit come into focus. It was the female one and she was looking at Lillian worriedly.

Lillian sat up with a yawn and rubbed her eyes. She looked around to see some Spring Sprites all snuggled up around her on the bed. She saw the two Spring Spirits in the room.

"Aren't there supposed to be more of you?" she asked them sleepily.

She had been so busy helping to fix the weather that she hadn't taken notice of how many Spring Sprites and Spirits there were. But now that she was looking, there only five Sprites and two Spirits. Compared to the dozens of Summer and Fall Sprites she had always seen flitting about, she realized her Spring ones seemed to be lacking.

"They all faded away," the female Spring Spirit said sadly. She had brown hair like Lillian, but hers was lighter. She had it pulled back into a french braid.

"Faded?" Lillian asked.

"It's what happens when we die," the male Spring Spirit piped up, seeing at how sad this conversation was making his friend. "We've been held captive for so long that a lot of us didn't make it."

"That's horrible!" Lillian exclaimed as she woke up more. "How long did Gethen have you guys locked up anyway?"

"Too long," the female Spirit said. "He.. he captured Leif too."

"Leif?" Lillian cocked her head. "Isn't that the name of the guy who was the Spirit of Spring before me? I heard Bunny talking about him once with North."

The male Spring Spirit looked hesitant to tell Lillian this, but he knew that she would ask about it anyway.

"He faded when you were made the new Spirit of Spring," he said softly to her. "A lot of the others lost hope after that, and more of the Spring Spirits and Sprites began to fade."  
"What?!" Lillian said as she leapt up from the bed, careful not to disturb the Sprites that were still sleeping. "No..! I.. I didn't do that!"

"We're not saying you did," the female Spirit said hastily.

But Lillian moved away from them, looking upset.

"No.. you're lying! I didn't kill Leif!" she shouted as she raced out of the room.

"Flora, why did you have to bring him up?" the male Spring Spirit said in exasperation. He ran a hand through his short, dark brown hair in frustration. "You upset our new Seasonal! We just met her a few days ago!"

"I miss him, Kel," she said with a sniffle as tears fell down her cheeks. "Why did he have to go?"

"Oh, Flora," Kelby said as he wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't stay mad at his friend when she was so upset.

The sound of little running feet alerted the Guardians that Lillian was awake. Pitch was in the globe room pacing back and forth as he waited for Jack and Lillian to wake up. It had taken a lot of convincing from the others for Pitch to stop checking on Jack and Lillian while they slept, and having Pitch busy pacing actually gave them time to plan the ceremony they were planning on having later on in the day.

Pitch perked up when Lillian raced out from the bedrooms and into the globe room. She spotted Pitch and ran over to him, barrelling into him and clutching onto him as she started to cry desperately.

"..I didn't do it..!" she wailed into his shirt while she hugged onto him. "I didn't!"

Pitch looked perplexed and a little concerned.

"What didn't you do?"

Lillian pulled away enough to look up at Pitch with her emerald eyes full of tears.

"They said I killed Leif!"

Pitch's face darkened at that as he wrapped his arms around Lillian. He gently picked her up and held her close.

"Who was saying that?"

Lillian sniffled and wiped some of her tears away.

"The Spirits," she said in a wobbly voice. "They said he died when I was chosen to be a Spirit."

Pitch sighed at that. Of course, they would upset Lillian as soon as she was awake.

"That doesn't make it your fault," he told her sternly. "The Man in the Moon chose you to be the Child of Spring. He probably didn't realize that Leif was still around. Besides, if he hadn't chosen you, then _you_ would have died. Now stop all this crying, it will be time for breakfast soon."

It was a little while later when mostly everyone was awake and gathered at North's table for breakfast. Extra chairs had been brought out, and all the Spirits and Sprites were sitting with their respective Seasonals. They all looked very uncomfortable, especially Kelby and Flora who noticed that Pitch Black kept glaring at them for some reason.

The only ones who seemed at ease with it all were the Guardians, Jack, and Lillian.

"It will take more than one night for you all to recover," North said as he dug into his pancakes. He had made them himself and they were pretty delicious. "I suggest you all stay here while you do so, since it will only use up more of your energy to go home. Once you have all rested, then you may go home."

"But I'm f-freezing!" Marin complained, as she still had North's hat on. All the Summer Spirits were wrapped in warm blankets, even August.

"It'll take me two seconds to get home," August grumbled as he ate his breakfast. Even though he had brushed his hair and was wearing fresh clothes that still had that Sun God quality, his complexion wasn't quite where it should be and he had dark shadows under his eyes. It was obvious that the trip might be too much for him.

"I will see if yetis can find you warmer clothes," North said placatingly. "In meantime, we have many blankets. Anyway, I was thinking after lunch we can all gather in the globe room and get to know one another better. Is not often that Guardians and Seasonals mix, no?"

The Seasonals all looked a bit awkward at that, but no one dared to disagree with a _Guardian._

They didn't know it, but North had been conspiring with Tooth, Bunny and Sandy since last night and the elves and yetis that were free were wrangling together a last minute ceremony. North had been all for a circus-like bonanza until Tooth stamped out the idea of the elves juggling flaming torches. Sandy had suggested they have the ceremony down by Jack's lake, but North had said he wanted something more official and since they were all at the Pole, then the Seasonals could witness it too.

It would be epic!

* * *

*A reviewer once made a comment on how Gethen broke the weather channel, and this is a reference to that. I will probably never stop making references to it, since it amused me so much. :)

Author's Note: Whew, another chapter out! Even though there was a little angst tossed in (darn you Flora), I'm enjoying having all of the Seasonals bunk at the Pole for now. This is the part that I was upset about in the other chapter, btw. I had planned for them to all collapse in a heap from tiredness and Mother Nature was going to show up and take them all back to her Palace. It was supposed to be a cute bonding moment with them all and Mother Nature could finally clear the air with Jack and Lillian. Instead, she wound up frozen and at the Pole, so I decided to move the slumber party to there instead.

Did you enjoy my reference to the movie version of the ceremony North tries to force on Jack? I couldn't remember if I actually had the flaming torches in my version of what happened, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have another reference to it.

Anyway, the ceremony will be first thing in the next chapter, followed up by some cute fluffy moments with the Seasonals. I think it's high time that Jack and Lillian spend some time with them, don't you? I'm also going to include an idea that I had forever ago. I found it posted in one of my chapters and thought it would be cute to include. It was more of a wistful idea that Lillian had before all the drama went down, and now that things have calmed down for now it's time to see that idea happen.

I don't need any plot help at the moment, but if you guys have any ideas for cute, fluffy moments that you want to see, feel free to post away!


	74. Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Ceremony

Author's Note: I was going to have this chapter be longer, but I realized that it was already pretty long, so I stopped it where it was. I hope it turned out alright! I worked on it bit by bit throughout the week and finished it off in one long writing session just now. I was thinking more about other plot to include after the Jamie's Big Adventure one I keep teasing about, and I think I know what to include sometime in the far, far future. Muwhaha! I was also thinking about what to do about our currently defeated villain and I somewhat have some ideas for him. You have absolutely no idea how hard it is to not just jump right into the next plot, but I want to show some bonding with the Seasonals first. Plus we can't always have angst and adventure _all_ the time, right? :P

I want to give a big shoutout to Crossover Junkie since you've always been a very faithful reviewer. I love hearing your input about the story and your ideas are very inspiring! I like your dialogue suggestions, even if I don't use them verbatim in the story. :)

Also, when I was thinking about plot I realized I left a plot thread sorta.. hanging. I very briefly addressed this and it might be expanded on much later, we'll see!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Ceremony

After breakfast, in which the Seasonals mostly stayed silent while the Guardians chatted with Jack, Lillian, and Pitch (even Bunny, the Seasonals were aghast to notice), Lillian asked if they had time for something before lunch.

She had an infectious grin on her face, even though she was still more pale than Pitch would have liked.

"I think you need to go back to bed," Pitch said in his Adult Mode voice. "All of you," he added as he gave a stern look to the various spirits and sprites.

"Aww!" Lillian complained. "But I'm tired of being in bed. I wanted - "

"I'll take her," Flora said hastily as she scooped little Lillian up into her arms. It would take some time to realize that the only mothering Lillian really needed was from Pitch. It was hard for her not to mother Lillian though, since she looked so young.

"Excuse me," Pitch said in an anything-but-polite voice, "But seeing as _I_ am her father.."

That drew gasps from around the table as everyone but Jasper, Jack and the Guardians looked equal parts shocked and horrified.

"..Wh.. what?!" Kelby squeaked in a most unmanly voice.

"Pitch adopted me," Lillian said helpfully from Flora's arms as she reached out for Pitch.

Pitch snatched Lillian away from Flora and glared at her for a brief moment.

Flora gulped and edged away from him.

"You.. you adopted our Seasonal?" she said trying and failing to keep her voice from shaking.

" _Pitch Black?_ " August said skeptically, as he cradled his hands around a mug of very hot chocolate. He had seen Pitch go into Adult Mode before, but it was still hard to wrap his mind around.

Pitch looked at them like they were all worms and they shifted uncomfortably in their seats, except for Flora who was still standing.

"I didn't adopt her because she was a Seasonal Spirit," Pitch said scathingly to Flora. "I took her in because she was a child that had no one else. She was created by the Man in the Moon and had no one to show her what to do. She had no where to go and no idea how to control her powers. And so help me if you _ever_ make her cry again, I will make you wish you had never been born!"

"He sort of adopted me too," Jack said with a smirk as it was the Winter Spirit and Sprites' turn to stare at him in a sort of horrified surprise. "We were both living with Pitch until, ah.. things happened."

"And things will most certainly unhappen," Pitch grumbled. "We have been away for far too long. I believe the caves are clear now, and we shouldn't have to worry about anything popping up," he said, referring to when Nightmares had suddenly shown back up all that time ago in the lair.

"Yay!" Lillian cheered as she instantly got over her disappointment of being told to rest even more. "I miss home."

The Spring Sprites and Spirits along with the Winter ones all looked depressed at that.

"What about our hillside?" Flora said, her tone sounding timid and defeated.

"And the ice castle!" the Winter Spirit chimed in.

"What hillside? What castle?" Pitch said as he narrowed his eyes at them.

"Our home," the Winter Spirit explained. "Mistral lived with us in the Ice Castle."

"And we lived with Leif in our own home in the hillside," Kelby said with a glance at Lillian, as if afraid she would become upset again.

Lillian's face fell at the mention of Leif and Bunny's ears perked up.

"What happened ta Leif?" he asked curiously. "We could never figure it out. He seemed ta drop right off the face of the Earth."

Kelby hesitated, looking more awkward still.

"..Gethen captured him," he finally said.

Bunny looked sad at that, and as his gaze shifted over to Lillian, he suddenly realized what became of Leif.

"That ratbag," Bunny grumbled. "If I ever get my paws on him!"

"Well, as touching as this all is," Pitch said coldly to the Spirits, "Lillian and Jack live with me. Not in some isolated castle or under a mound of dirt."

Flora's expression looked angry for a moment, but then it quickly faded as she realized this was _Pitch Black_ and you didn't dare mess with him.

"They could come live with us!" Lillian said suddenly, perking up a little. "And Jack doesn't stay with us in the Summer. He could go stay at the Ice Castle then and come back for visits until Fall."

Pitch looked less than enthused about housing all those Spirits and Sprites, and the Spirits and Sprites themselves all looked terrified at the thought of actually _living_ with Pitch Black.

"You could stay with us in the Winter," Flora suggested hesitantly. It was so unusual for a Seasonal's Spirits and Sprites to not live with them.

Pitch glared at Flora.

"She stays with _me_ in the Winter. Do you think that I'm so neglectful as to not provide the proper seasonal clothing for her?"

 _She doesn't want us?_ a Spring Sprite said dejectedly.

Lillian heard the little sprite and gasped.

"Oh no, I do! I really do. You guys are awesome! It'll be way easier to spread Spring now," she reassured her poor Sprites. "But I can't live with you. Can you guys go live on the hillside and I'll come visit? I promise."

"The same goes for me," Jack said. "Except when I need to stay somewhere colder, I can come check out this castle of yours."

The Spirits and Sprites didn't look very happy about it, but they all reluctantly agreed. After all, what choice did they have?

"Jack," North boomed out. "You know if you are ever in need of cold place to stay, you are more than welcome here."

Jack gave North a grin at that.

"Does that mean I can have snowball fights with the yetis?"

North chuckled at that.

"If it is outside, then yes!"

Jack mock pouted at that but gave a wink to his own little sprites. He couldn't wait to teach them all about the joys of pranking.

"Now that that is all settled," Pitch said, returning right back to Adult Mode. "It's time for you all to go to bed."

"Can I stay with you?" Lillian asked him. She felt like she hadn't gotten to spend any real time with Pitch in forever.

"Me too!" Jack chimed in.

"My sprites want to come too," Lillian said, causing them all to gape at her.

"Looks like a sleepover at Pitch's," Jack said with a smirk.

Pitch, who didn't have a room big enough to house them all, shook his head.

"I think you should stay in your own rooms. After all, Jack, your sprites need the cold and Lillian's sprites do not."

Lillian pouted at that but allowed herself to be carried off by Pitch. After a lot of encouraging from Jack, everyone else began to follow them back to their rooms.

While the Seasonals were all settling back into bed, North, Sandy, Tooth, and Bunny all lounged around as casually (not very much) as possible until they were sure the last Sprite was gone and that Pitch was out of hearing range.  
"Phil!" North called out, and Phil dutifully hurried over to where the Guardians were now gathered. Once Phil was there, North leaned in conspiratorially. "Ok, we do not have much time. Phil, you must gather the elves and get them to play their instruments once I give the signal. We will be in the globe room."

Phil nodded and replied an affirmative in yetish, before heading off to go do that.

"Bunny, we will need decorations to make the globe room extra special."

Bunny quirked a brow at that.

"What do ya want me ta do? Cut out paper snowflakes and paste 'em on the walls?"

North, failing to notice Bunny's sarcasm, waved a dismissive hand at this.

"It has already been done. It must be very special!"

Sandy waved a hand around eagerly and used his sand symbols to suggest he could help out.

"Good!" North said with a smile. "Then Tooth, you need to help me with the food. I want to make a big cake, so we can have a party afterwards! After all, it is not every day we get _two_ new Guardians. "

Tooth smiled happily at that.

"Baby Tooth can keep an eye on Jack and Lillian and the others to make sure they don't go in the globe room early."

Baby Tooth, who was eagerly listening, nodded at this and zoomed off to go do just that.

" _And_ we'll have all the Seasonal Spirits as witnesses!"

North nodded and clapped his hands together.

"You saw how they were with Pitch. It will show them how much he has changed. Is about time that Pitch's reputation changes."

Bunny snorted at that.

"Mate, you will never convince the entire spirit world to not be afraid of Pitch Black."

* * *

Baby Tooth ignored the rest of the conversation as she eagerly flew off towards the bedrooms. She quickly located Jack's room by how cold it was. Someone had left the door cracked, so she easily slipped inside. She paused in midair as she saw Jack was sound asleep already in bed, surrounded by his few Sprites, which were sleeping on his pillow by his head. The lone Winter Spirit was curled up on the floor near the bed with a thin sheet over himself. Jack wasn't under the covers at all, but he had changed into a pair of pajamas that had snowflakes all over them.

Baby Tooth saw Jack's hoodie draped over a chair and flew over to it. She settled down into the hood and found it just as comfortable as she had before. She decided she could rest her eyes for just a minute...

* * *

The sound of footsteps nearby caused her to open her eyes and blink sleepily. She saw a retreating dark form that looked to be leaving the room. Then her eyes widened as she realized it was Pitch! He was leaving the room and if he closed the door behind himself she'd be trapped in there!

She quickly darted from the hoodie and flew silently after Pitch. She managed to sneak back out through the doorway before Pitch closed the door. She followed after him stealthily as he peeked in on Lillian, who seemed to be in a similar position to Jack, except she was under the covers and had an extra blanket over her for good measure.

Pitch smiled at the sight and then went to Mother Nature's room, to see to her. When he looked in, Mother Nature was still under several warm blankets and appeared to be sleeping as well. She still looked far too pale for Pitch's liking, but at least she had been unfrozen. He didn't know what he would have done if he would have lost her.

He moved to Mother Nature's bedside and sat down on the edge of her bed.

 _Poor Emily Jane,_ he sighed to himself.

Baby Tooth watched him for a moment, and satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere, for now, she left and wandered back out to the globe room to see how things were going there.

She was surprised to see that Bunny was arguing with Sandy.

"Sandy, these are _perfect_ for decoratin'!" Bunny declared as he waved what looked like christmas lights around.

As Baby Tooth flew closer, however, she could see that the lights were actually little easter eggs.

Sandy shook his head since he knew that North wouldn't like them and it would probably start the Christmas/Easter debate, which was _not_ something they needed right before the ceremony.

He instead held up white christmas lights and Bunny sighed.

Baby Tooth smiled in amusement at this and then flew off to go see what Tooth and North were up to. After searching around for a bit, she found North in the kitchen, uncharacteristically grumbling to himself while Tooth was chatting a mile a minute while pausing every now and then to give out orders for teeth to her fairies.

North dumped a cup full of something into the cake batter and then grimaced.

"Tooth!" he complained. "This is the third time I have made this wrong! Your talking is distracting and I cannot measure the ingredients while you are calling out addresses!"

Tooth gave North a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that," she said, and then spotted Baby Tooth. "Oh, Baby Tooth! They aren't coming out yet, are they?"

It had only been a few hours and they most certainly weren't ready yet.

Baby Tooth shook her head and gave a reassuring chirp and then settled down by Tooth to watch what was going on. She was a little disappointed when a minute later after measuring the vanilla wrong yet again, North kicked them out of the kitchen so he could make the cake in peace.

* * *

A few more hours after that, a sleepy Jack wandered out from his room, only to walk right into a slightly panicking Bunny.

"Hey, uh, what are you doing out from bed?" Bunny asked, trying to sound casual and failing spectacularly.

Jack woke up a bit more when he noticed that Bunny looked a bit frantic.

"Didn't you guys want to hang out and talk or something?" he asked in confusion.

Pitch had gone around and fed everyone lunch in bed, and after finishing Jack had wandered out in his pajamas. He didn't really feel like getting dressed, his Winter Sprites and Spirit had assured them they would be out as soon as they were finished too.

"Yeah, but you all gotta come out at once."

"Okaaay," Jack said, drawing out the word. He gave Bunny a weird look but turned right around to wait on the others to finish their lunch.

Not long after that, all the Seasonals and their sprites and spirits were out in the globe room, all sitting down on various seats. Pitch himself was on the couch with a very tired Mother Nature sitting on his right with Jack sitting on his left and little Lillian was perched on his lap.

The Guardians couldn't help but smile at the little family, glad that Pitch had finally made up with Mother Nature.

The Seasonals, spirits, and sprites, however, couldn't help but stare at this more domestic Pitch Black. The fact that Pitch was calmly sitting there with _Mother Nature_ and two Seasonal Spirits very calmly, as though this were perfectly ordinary for him was very unsettling to them.

Lillian was leaning back against Pitch's chest, content to just sit and observe for now. Normally she'd probably be talking a mile a minute, but she was still tired from her nap and although she'd never admit it, she still wasn't feeling one hundred percent from the other day.

Mother Nature was quite pale still, but North had particularly insisted that she be brought out to socialize with the others. Pitch had been very vexed at this, as he could see that Mother Nature still needed a lot of rest, but North had said that all she would do was sit and not expend any energy. Pitch had very reluctantly relented, although he wasn't happy about it.

Jack was leaning against Pitch a bit and it was obvious that he was still pretty tired as well. Jack hardly noticed all the decorations that were now about, and as he held his staff in his lap (being careful not to accidentally poke anyone with it) all he could think about was his comfy bed.

Sandy was amused to see all the Seasonals, spirits, and sprites were all in borrowed pajamas. Mother Nature, Jack, and Lillian were in their own pajamas, since Pitch had gone home to his lair and Mother Nature's to fetch them, but the others were in borrowed pajamas.

Phil had been sent on that errand, and not knowing what else to do, Phil had grabbed a few snowglobes and set off into Burgess to raid some bargain bins for the warmest pajamas he could find.

So that was how August was now wearing red pajamas that had cute little yellow suns all over them with smiley faces, Jasper was wearing pajamas very similar to Jack's, that were a light blue with snowmen with smiley faces all over them (he was SO not amused), and Marin was wearing a Little Mermaid nightgown.

Everyone else was wearing various pajamas and nightgowns and Bunny couldn't help but think how very weird this ceremony was going to be, with the Guardians all wearing their normal clothes and everyone else in pajamas. Bunny looked around at the very tired spirits and hid a wince. He wished everyone was feeling better. Right now, they all looked tired and a little cranky.

"Jack, Lillian," Mother Nature began quietly, feeling that if anyone should start off their gathering, it might as well be her.

Lillian looked over at Mother Nature cautiously, remembering when Mother Nature had shouted at them and shoved them in a cave, cruelly abandoning them in the process.

Jack was obviously thinking of that time as well, but as he hugged his staff to himself, he also remembered how Mother Nature had helped to fix his staff.. How they _all_ had helped him.

So Jack smiled at Mother Nature.

"It's alright," he told her. "I've already forgiven you."

Mother Nature's eyes widened a bit at that, as she hadn't expected that at all.

"You.. have?" she said, surprise coloring her voice.

"What?!" Lillian exclaimed as she was still on the fence about that.

Jack gave Lillian a look at that.

"She sacrificed herself to save you, Lillian. She probably set back her own recovery to use her powers to help me fix my staff! That more than makes up for what she did."

August, who had no idea on what was going on, looked quite confused. Jasper, who had witnessed more than what he wanted to about that, looked rather awkward and plucked at the sleeves of his pajamas, not particularly liking the winter theme with them.

"..Oh," Lillian said with a blush, her voice getting smaller in embarrassment. How could she forget about that?

Mother Nature looked over at Lillian.

"I hope you do forgive me," she said sadly, "but I understand if you don't. What I did was wrong, and not how a Seasonal should be treated. However, I hope that we can move forward. After all," she continued as she looped an arm through Pitch's and squeezed it gently, "we do share the same father."

Pitch's heart swelled at her words and he smiled at his precious daughter, and at all of his children. To finally be with them all and to have them all get along.. That was truly a dream come true. Even if Mother Nature would only visit now and then, he still couldn't wait to have them all back at his lair, his home. _Their_ home.

While the other spirits looked completely gobsmacked at the soft smile on Pitch's face that completely ruined his fearsome image, North loudly cleared his throat.

"Before we have more socializing, I think it is time for something that has been a long time coming." he said as he looked around at them all with twinkling eyes. "It is clear that you all did your very best to help end the terrible weather that has been endangering the Earth and all the children, and for that, the Guardians all thank you."

Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy all nodded their agreement to this and the Seasonals looked particularly proud, if still a bit tired.

"One in particular stands out in this. Jack, we know that once your staff was fixed, you used every last bit of your strength to stop that blizzard and fix the weather. You have proved time and time again that you care about all the children and protecting them. We can see this in your friendship with Lillian and Jamie. We understand that Gethen had been forcing you and others to do bad things, but you have more than made up for it with your actions yesterday. So, it is because of this, that we would like to ask you: Would you, Jack Frost, like to become a Guardian?

August and Jasper stared at North and then turned as one to stare at Jack.

 _Jack Frost_ as a Guardian?

Irresponsible prankster Jack Frost?

The one that always caused trouble?

 _Him?_

Lillian's tiredness seemed to melt away as she got a big grin on her face.

"Yeah, Jack! You're the best!" she cheered.

Jack actually blushed and looked down at his staff for a moment, his fingers tracing the new symbols of the Seasonals and Mother Nature on the front. Yesterday was one of the worst days he had ever had, but in a way, it was also the best.

He would always remember it as the day that everyone believed in him, and in his abilities to help. Now today was threatening to eclipse that as the best day ever. When he looked back up at the Guardians, his eyes were a little more shiny than normal, but the wide grin on his face caused them all to smile.

"I thought you'd never ask!" he said in true Jack Frost style, as his grin changed into a smirk.

He managed to stand and walk over to them and leaned nonchalantly on his staff once he stopped. Bunny almost frowned at this, until he noticed that Jack was trying valiantly not to tremble from the effort and that he was using his staff more for support than anything.

He suddenly got a flashback of Jack in the same pose after that terrible Easter of '68 and almost face palmed. At the time he had thought that Jack was being cocky and mocking him, but now he realized that Jack was most likely exhausted and trying to cover it up.

He wondered for the millionth time how the Guardians could have failed him so. At least now they were doing something to make it up to him. They would make Jack part of their team and they would never, _ever_ let him down again.

North was handed a very large book from one of the elves and he flipped to the Guardian Ceremony pages. He cleared his throat but then paused.

"You know, you weren't the only one who helped save the children, Jack," North said as he got an almost Jack-like smirk. "Sandy told us how Pitch set aside his concern for Mother Nature and Lillian to help warn the children through his nightmares. In fact, we have come to realize that Pitch's nightmares help the children more than we realized. For without a touch of fear, children cannot grow and overcome their fears. We know that you are no longer the evil _Pitch Black,_ nor are you the same general as you once used to be, so long ago. Instead, we would like for you to be Pitch: The Guardian of Courage. For it is you that encourages the children to find their courage and overcome their nightmares. You force the children to face their fears, and conquer them. It is because of this, we would like to ask you.. Would you like to be a Guardian, Pitch?"

At this little speech, there was dead silence.

For his part, Pitch looked completely stunned and just stared at North in total surprise. It was true that he had set everything aside to help warn the children of California, but he had only done so because it was the right thing to do, not because he was thinking of being rewarded for it.

 _Him,_ a Guardian?

Absurd!

After a few seconds of silence, Jack and Lillian burst into cheers and the Summer Spirits and Sprites all started shivering as it began to lightly snow in the large room.

Bunny reached over and smacked the back of Jack's head lightly at that and frowned at him.

"No usin' yer powers while yer recoverin'," he sternly told Jack.

Jack grinned sheepishly and waved his staff as the temperature rose back to normal and the snow disappeared as quickly as it had started.

"What?!" Jasper cried out as he leapt to his feet. All he could think about was his disastrous meeting with Pitch and how he was almost decapitated. How could the Guardians even think about allowing Pitch to become one of them! Pitch was the last person who should be Guardian!

"You have _got_ to be kidding!" August exclaimed, flabbergasted. " _Pitch Black?_ "

"Hey!" Lillian shouted at Jasper and August, as she could tell this was hurting Pitch's feelings.

Pitch had gone from looking stunned, to looking uncomfortable. He couldn't remember most of the terrible things he had done, but they must have been truly horrible if the others seemed so against it. For just a moment, North's words had touched him, but now...

"Pitch is the _best_ and the Man in the Moon fixed him so he's not super evil anymore!" she said with a glare at the two Seasonals.

And it was true, Pitch no longer had his gray complexion and his eyes which had been more yellow like the Nightmares' eyes, were now a softer, golden color. His complexion now was more pale, as though he didn't go out into the sun very much. It had the startling effect of making him look more human. More normal.

"We want Pitch to be a Guardian," North said, his voice getting a hard edge that it rarely did. "We do not ask those who aren't worthy of being one, and we would never ask any one who would be a danger to children. Pitch is a parent himself, and he can offer us a perspective that we have been lacking. He will be a very valuable asset to our team! It is not up to you to judge Pitch! Manny has healed him and he is truly a new Pitch, and if we can look past this then so can you. If you are going to interrupt one of our most important ceremonies, then you can leave."

Looking abashed, Jasper noticed all the less than friendly looks he and August were getting. He hastily sat back down and he and August murmured their apologies. Even they weren't stupid enough to anger the _Guardians._ Everyone knew they were the most powerful beings.

Giving Jasper and August one last warning look, North suddenly grinned as he got his good humor back.

"So, Pitch!" he said jovially. "Do you want to be one of us?"

In another lifetime, this question might have given Pitch the shivers as it would have been one of his worst nightmares. He'd never want to be one of _them._

When Jasper and August had protested his being a Guardian so much, he had started to doubt himself and wondered if he was Guardian material after all. Apparently he had done a lot of things that wouldn't be considered very Guardian-like, but everyone kept saying how changed he was now. He wasn't sure how different he was, since he couldn't really remember his more evil moments.

He looked over at Jack, and then down at Lillian and lastly, Mother Nature. The first two had hopeful looks on their faces and Mother Nature, he saw, had tears in her eyes.

Mother Nature had never once thought Pitch could be redeemed from what he was, and now she was proven to be so very wrong. She leaned into Pitch and gave him a tender kiss on the cheek.

"You will make the best Guardian," she said softly to him.

Pitch's eyes got suspiciously bright at that, and he cleared his throat.

"Of course I will," he said brusquely to North. "I seem to be the only one with any common sense here. What would you all do without me?"

Bunny bristled at that, but before he could say anything, North had boomed out a loud "Good!" and called for Pitch to come up there.

Pitch gently moved Lillian into Mother Nature's arms and he stood to go take his place next to Jack in front of North.

So it was as North read the formal words from the ancient book, and as Pitch and Jack readily accepted their duties that the two officially became Guardians.

"So I now declare, that you Jack Frost, and you Pitch, are now and forevermore Guardians!" North declared loudly as he discreetly gave a signal behind his back.

Most of the spirits still looked completely gobsmacked and Jasper and August were too subdued to cheer, but the Winter Sprites and Spirits all burst into loud cheers along with Lillian and Mother Nature (although hers wasn't very loud, since she was still so weak).

The cheers were abruptly interrupted however, when a rag-tag elf band burst into the room and began to loudly play. They looked more like a three ring circus than anything, as North grinned again.

"And now, we celebrate!"

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you don't mind I skipped over North's actual words. I felt like he already gave a few passionate speeches about Pitch and Jack, and we all know that he was going to ask Jack and Pitch if they would always watch over the children, etc. I wanted to include the party afterwards, but I felt like the chapter was already pretty long. So the next chapter will start off with that. I could use some more cute ideas for all the Seaonals to do together since I only have one. I want them to see the more childish side of Jack and Lillian, and realize that they are essentially still children. Plus they need to interact more with Pitch and realize he's no longer evil incarnate. I also decided that Mother Nature would not be living with Pitch. Even though they made up, she's still an adult with her own palace, so she'll always live there. But she'll pop up a lot more often for visits. :)

It might seem like Jamie and his friends are being ignored for now, but since the next major plot will involve _tons_ of Jamie, I want to focus more on the family aspect with Pitch and Co. for now. I think it will be interesting to see the next Guardian meeting, don't you?

Oh, and if some of you are wondering why Lillian was left out of Guardianship, it's because she's too young. She's not even fifty yet as a spirit, and even Jack who is well over two hundred is still considered pretty young for a spirit. Lillian can still be very rash with her actions (attacking Gethen without telling anyone what she was up to) and while she is very adorable, she still has to learn how to be a team player. And since she will always be a child, she probably won't ever be a Guardian. Jack is somewhat older, so he can get away with technically being a child and a Guardian at the same time.


	75. Chapter Sixty: Painting Party

Author's Note: Surprise! I was supposed to spend today taking a break from the fic, but instead I wound up writing a whole other chapter. I blame Silversun XD for this since their review reminded me that it has actually been a long time since my first mention of the letter. I looked back and was appalled to see that it had actually been over ten chapters. I felt really guilty about that, so I decided to add in a bit with Father Time and Jamie. I haven't forgotten all about that plot, but it's not time to add it in just now.

As I was looking back at that, Crossover Junkie's review reminded me about hanging plot threads, and as I looked back at Toy Time and Toy Time Pt 2, I realized that I had left a _lot_ hanging when I had moved on to more exciting things. So I wanted to turn back the clock a little and bring some of those plot threads into play with this chapter. This chapter was supposed to be all happy and fluffy, but August wasn't cooperating darnit and I realized that it wouldn't be realistic if I had him just happily go along with everyone. So there will be some angst in this too.

Now.. reviews!

Lady Syndra was happy Gethen got his revenge and I can see her point. Everyone was so mean to Gethen all that time ago, it's no wonder that he sought out revenge. I am sad about the spirits I killed off though.. I think Mistral and Leif would be interesting to have in the story more, but oh well. :(

Silversun XD was curious about the time traveling that the letter implied and where exactly that plot is going to go. I can't tell you, of course, since that would ruin the surprise. But I did feel bad, so I put in a bit with Father Time and Jamie, just for you. It doesn't explain anything, really, but it gets the plot moving along in that direction a little.

Crossover Junkie suggested I resume Toy Making, and I have to tell you that I am one step ahead of you this time! :P

I also have to warn you guys that this chapter is probably the longest one I've ever written since I knew that I absolutely couldn't end it where I was thinking of since that would be too cruel. So without further ado, here it is!

Chapter Sixty: Painting Party

North was all set to go into party mode as the music from the elf band swelled. He grinned at Jack and Pitch, but Pitch was frowning at the elves' antics.

Pitch started to talk, but the music was drowning him out and he gave a loud sigh that was unheard by everyone except for Jack. Pitch leaned in towards Jack and half-shouted in his ear.

Jack nodded and headed back to the couch, leaning down towards Mother Nature and Lillian to relay Pitch's message. He had to shout to be heard as well.

Pitch was glaring his harshest glare at the elf band, but the elves weren't exactly the brightest of the bunch and played on with even more enthusiasm than before.

Finally, Pitch's patience snapped and he shouted loud enough to be heard even over the band.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

The band ground to a halt and everyone stopped to stare at Pitch, who appeared to have an eye tick and looked rather angry at the elves and their terrible playing.

"Is never enough!" North said as he was about to gesture at the elves to resume playing. "You and Jack are Guardians now, we have much celebrating to do!"

Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose, looking almost pained to have to explain this to North.

"In case you haven't noticed," he said in a sort of forced calm, "there's a room full of exhausted spirits, including my children. All of whom still need quite a bit of rest."

North frowned at this, but finally seemed to notice all the pale faces, and that the Summer Spirits especially were all covered in various blankets and shivering in the very open room.

Tooth smiled at Pitch.

"We understand! We can do something once everyone's fully recovered."

Pitch muttered something that sounded like "Finally" as he went over to the couch where Lillian was. He went to scoop her up but then frowned as he took in Jack's form. Jack appeared to be struggling to stay on his feet, so he couldn't carry Lillian. He looked down at Lillian, who looked back up at him with her emerald eyes.

Sighing, he looked around and spotted Bunny. He glanced down at Lillian and decided to see how things would go. He carried her over to Bunny before handing her over.

"She needs to get to her room," he instructed the surprised Pooka before he turned and headed back to Mother Nature.

He gently picked her up into his arms and went to carry her off. He paused as he noticed he was the only one headed toward the rooms before he gave another sigh and snapped harshly at them all with a "Well? Are you coming to bed or are you all going to collapse on your feet?"

At Pitch's reprimand, all the Seasonals hastened to obey. Jasper especially hurried, not wanting to anger the new Guardian, as he was still unused to a Pitch that was anything but mean.

Soon everyone had been settled back into bed, Lillian had allowed Bunny to tuck her in and she had her sprites all resting on her pillow nearby her.

"I'm not tired," Lillian complained, but she sounded exhausted. She just didn't want to rest in bed since that was so boring.

"If yer so awake, why don't ya tell us a story," Bunny said with a smirk and a challenging tone.

"Fine!" Lillian huffed, "Once upon a time.."

"Nah, it should be somethin' that really happened to ya," Bunny interrupted as he sat down on the edge of her bed, enjoying himself.

Hesitantly, Flora and Kelby sat near the bed as well, so they could hear. They didn't know a lot about their Seasonal, but they would be more than happy to learn more about her.

"Like what?" Lillian asked, sounding put out.

Bunny paused, thinking before he smirked again. "Tell us about yer favorite holiday. As a human and a spirit."

It was Lillian's turn to pause, as memories swirled around. Unbidden, memories of her life as a child swam in front of her eyes. She had never liked Christmas since Santa never brought her presents. She was always bad, her father had always told her so. Their household didn't really celebrate any holidays, she realized as she thought some more about it. She remembered sitting down and writing Santa a lot of letters in her short life, but he never answered her.

Bunny was starting to get a little worried as the silence stretched out. He had thought his demands for a story would be something fun and that would help them all learn more about her. Lillian loved having fun, but she didn't really open up about herself too much. She was too busy running around with Jack or working on her book, or in more recent times, helping to save the world.

Just as he was about to tell her to forget it, she started to speak.

"My favorite as a human was always Easter," she said, her voice soft and sad. Thinking about all that time ago made her feel small and like a child again. "I liked finding the Easter eggs and putting them in my pockets."

Bunny's smirk came back and widened again. Ha! Take that, North!

"As a spirit.." Lillian trailed off, thinking of all the holidays she and Jack had celebrated with Pitch. She remembered when she and Jack had decorated Pitch's globe room and her sad look was replaced with a smile. "It's Christmas. The first Christmas I had with my new family."

Bunny blinked at that, but it made sense. But then he frowned a little at that.

"Why didn't ya like Christmas as a kid?" he asked, curious as to why she didn't love Christmas just as much when she was a human.  
However, silence greeted this question and he looked down at her questioningly, before he noticed that her eyes had drifted closed and she seemed to be asleep.

He shook his head at that. Even though she was over forty years old, she was still such a kid. He reached out and let a paw rest gently on her curls, a soft smile on his face before he pulled it away and stood up. He made sure to cover her up with the warm blankets before he quietly left the room to let the spirits get some rest.

* * *

It was while all the Seasonals and the spirits and sprites were all recovering, that Father Time had noticed something was amiss. He had gone to peer in at his Room of Possibilities and saw that everything seemed to be fine for now. No adventures were brewing at the moment and he nodded to himself.

But when he had peered into another room, he had noticed that things seemed.. off. He looked at all the miniature hourglasses lined up on the shelves. He had some that were silver, and some that were gold. He had a few that were in other colors, all of the colors meaning something significant for their uses.

He used to use these long ago in place of time traveling spells, as these were much easier to use. Just a simple turn or two, and there he was, in another time.

But now as he looked around, he could see that some of his hour glasses were out of alignment. He frowned as he walked amongst the shelves, and then paused in shock as he stared at the silver hour glasses. Even though they had been moved to try and hide it, there was no denying that one was missing.

Someone had stolen one of his hour glasses!

But the question was: Who?

* * *

Jamie paused as he came out of one of his classes. For some reason, he couldn't concentrate on Mr. Underhill's droning voice today, even though this history lesson was pretty interesting. Mr. Underhill had whipped out his phone right after he dismissed class and was once again perusing articles about the terrible blizzard that had struck California, and the very severe thunderstorm it had somehow turned into after the temperature had mysteriously risen.

Jamie walked down the hallway, careful to not walk into anyone as he went to his locker. He spun the dial on his combination lock and soon had it open. He tossed his history book inside and grabbed his English text and then paused as he stared at the cover, suddenly remembering the strange letter he had gotten.

What had that letter said?

 _You'll know this adventure is beginning when you get Ms. Parker as your English teacher._

He shivered as he put the book in his backpack along with his English notebook. He grabbed a few books he'd also need later on in the day and closed his locker quickly. He could feel his heart beat faster as he thought of the letter. It had said that he would have his biggest adventure yet, and it had sounded like he would be all by himself.

The other kids had dismissed the letter with everything else that had been going on with the weather, but Jamie couldn't help but keep thinking about it.

With trepidation, he walked off to his English class and hesitantly entered the room. He let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding as he saw Mr. Plum at the front of the room like usual. He sat at his desk as a few of his friends shot him curious looks. They had seen how nervous Jamie had been when he had entered the room, but Jamie took out his English book and notebook and avoided their gaze.

He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but he was scared. Even though he had seen more than most children his age, he was still just a child. He stared down at his English book as Mr. Plum began to speak.

He really hoped the letter writer was wrong and that he never got Ms. Parker as an English teacher. He didn't know what he'd do if that happened.

The letter had been so confusing too! How was he supposed to go back in time anyway? Was time travel even possible?!

* * *

It had been a few days since the failed party and Lillian was bored. She and her sprites were visiting Jack and his sprites, while August and Jasper were off doing whatever. Even though they had all worked together to get the weather back to normal, they still weren't very close.

Lillian was sitting by Jack's side on the bed while the Spring and Winter Spirits and Sprites looked at one another awkwardly. They had all been held captive together, but they were not particularly close. They were opposites and their different temperature requirements made it hard for them to be in the same room together.

Flora didn't know how her Seasonal could stand to sit so close to Jack Frost. He practically radiated cold, and she shivered again and drew the blanket she had close around her shoulders. Kelby shot her a concerned look, but neither of the two Seasonals was paying them any attention.

"We should work on our toys!" Lillian exclaimed suddenly, as she remembered them. It had been so long since they worked on them that she had forgotten all about them. "Do you think Pitch ever finished his?"

"I doubt it," Jack replied as he thought of all the drama that had been going on.

"I need to interview August and Jasper," Lillian said as she realized this was the perfect opportunity to do so. "And you can show them your Snow Bazooka."

"Snowball thrower," Jack corrected automatically.

"Yeah!" Lillian agreed with a smile. "C'mon!"

She grabbed Jack's hand as she leapt up from the bed and dragged him off the bed and out of the room. Flora and Kelby looked at one another and then at the Winter Spirit in concern. What were their Seasonals up to now?

"We better follow them," Kelby said nervously. He didn't want to know what Pitch Black would say when he realized that they had let their Seasonals get out of bed. Kelby and Flora had been nervous just letting Lillian visit Jack Frost, and now here they were running off doing who knew what.

Lillian paused outside Jasper's room and knocked briefly before barging right in. She looked around the room curiously as she dragged Jack inside by his hand. There were a few Fall Sprites and Spirits around. Jasper was sitting on his bed, happily chatting away with his Fall Spirits. Crispin, Kale, and Laurel were all looking much better now that they had some rest, and were sitting on the bed with their Seasonal, eyes sparkling as they all caught up.

At the sound of the hasty knock and the door banging open, however, they all turned their heads. Crispin, Kale, and Laurel had all flinched at the loud sound, and Jasper had scrambled off the bed, taking a defensive position in front of his spirits. He gaped in surprise to see Lillian barging her way into his room with Jack Frost in tow.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, confusion evident as he stared at them.

Even though he was Jack's twin, he looked like he was in his twenties while Jack was still technically a child, and looked a bit younger. Now that Jack had his memories of his former life back, he could appreciate how much Jasper looked like Jack did when he was a human. If Jack had been human at that moment, they would look like brothers.

"Jack and I wanted you to see our toys. Well, I need help with mine," Lillian said in a rush. "I'm making a book about the Seasonals and I need to know some stuff."

Jasper took this all in and looked more confused than ever.

"..What?"

Jack laughed at Jasper's confusion and helped out with the explanations.

"Before everything happened, Lillian and I were helping to make some toys for Christmas. I was making a snowball thrower and Lillian was making a book that could be given out to the kids. It was going to explain all about the Seasonal Spirits, but Lillian doesn't know a lot about them. About you."

Jasper's brow furrowed as he listened to Jack's explanation.

"You're going to tell mortals about us?" he finally asked. " _All_ of us?"

Lillian nodded.

"I wanted to tell them about Pitch too, but I think this book should be just for Seasonals. When I had a cold earlier, I was trying to come up with some spring drawings I could use for the book in the Spring section."

She looked hesitant as she continued to speak, as if afraid that Jasper would laugh at her or reject her.

"I was thinking that each of us could do some drawings or paintings for our section of the book," she said as she looked down at her feet instead.

Jasper looked surprised again, but then a smile slowly spread on his face at the thought of getting his hands on some paints. It felt like it had been so long since he had painted!

Jack saw the smile and looked relieved. He didn't want Lillian to be disappointed if Jasper said no.

"Are there any paints around?" Jasper asked eagerly, as he thought about painting a beautiful fall scene. He couldn't paint his forest for this book, of course, since he didn't want to give the location of his home away, but he could still paint a lovely more generic fall scene with lots of trees and leaves. Maybe he would include some pumpkins near the trees. Or a scarecrow. He couldn't wait to get started, as his mind took in all the possibilities.

Lillian finally noticed the look on Jasper's face and stifled a giggle.

"You really like painting, don't you?"

Jasper nodded absently, already lost in the world of Fall, thinking of things he could paint. Maybe he would make several paintings and select one to go into the book. The rest he could keep for himself. He had a large home and there was always room for more paintings.

"Well, North doesn't really have good paints here," Lillian said regretfully. "But Bunny said we could come to his Warren whenever we wanted. I bet he has a lot of good paints since he paints so many eggs. He probably has some easels and stuff we could use too."

Jasper's eyes widened at that. They were going to a _Guardian's_ home to paint? It was unreal!

"R-really?" Jasper said, his voice a little higher than normal. "He wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not!" Lillian said with a giggle. "He's really nice. Do you think August would mind going to the Warren?"

Jasper looked thoughtful as he thought about it, shaking his mind away from painting for now.

"..I'm not sure," he said as he looked doubtful. "August is.. well.. August. If he's well enough to go anywhere, he'd probably go home before anything else. Or at least to California and see how things are going there. If the weather's good enough, he'd probably go surfing."

Disappointment filled Lillian's face as her expression fell.

"He wouldn't want to spend any time with us?" she asked, her voice small.

Jasper sighed as he looked down at Lillian. This was part of the reason why August didn't like her very much. She was rash and very childlike. She didn't even consider how the difference in temperature in such a spring-like place like the Warren would affect them.

"It's not that he doesn't want to spend time with you," Jasper lied. He knew for a fact that August didn't like what he called the baby Spring Spirit very much. She didn't seem to have as much care for Spring as Leif had, and it grated on August's nerves. "It's just that August is a Summer Spirit. He can't take milder temperatures like we all can. He needs very warm places or else he feels too cold."

"Oh!" Lillian exclaimed as understanding dawned in her eyes. "But Jack would melt if we went somewhere really warm. Couldn't August bundle up really well, just for a few hours?"

Of course August could do just that, Jasper realized. All he would need to do is borrow some more clothes and blankets. The question really should be if August would _want_ to. Jasper seriously doubted if August would want to. But then again, having himself immortalized into a book might stroke August's ego enough to have him go along with it. Especially if August was told there'd be something about his favorite state in it.

"Maybe," Jasper said doubtfully. "But you better let me ask."

Hurt entered Lillian's eyes and she held her arms to herself.

"He doesn't like me," she said softly, more to herself.

"That's not true!" Jack quickly exclaimed, but then looked at Jasper. "Right?"

Jasper looked awkward at being put on the spot like that but was saved the trouble of answering as August himself entered Jasper's room.

"I swear I'm going to freeze - " August started, but then stopped as he saw Jack and Lillian were in the room. His lips turned down into a frown as he saw the two Seasonals there. Sure, he had helped Frost out with his staff, but that didn't mean that they were _friends._ And he was still angry at Lillian for abandoning them like that, even if she did rescue their missing Spirits and Sprites. She could have at least told them what they were up to!

"August," Jasper said as he gave his friend a nervous smile.

"Do you like me?" Lillian asked August suddenly as she whirled around to face him, peering at him from behind Jack.

August looked startled at the sudden question, but his frown deepened.

Jasper could sense that August was about to be.. well, August, but he couldn't think of anything to say to get August to be more gentle in his reply. Sometimes August could be quite blunt and he knew that it would hurt the Spring Spirit's feelings. Comparing her to Leif was perhaps unfair, but he and August had been doing that a lot lately when they had gotten together to gossip about Jack and Lillian.

"Why should I?" August said to Lillian as Lillian's face fell even more. Jack put a protective hand on Lillian's shoulder as August went on. "You make Spring flowers out of season and don't have a care for them. You accused me of the out of season weather at our meeting with Mother Nature. You selfishly went off to get your vengeance when you should have been helping us to fix the weather. You whine and pout like the child you look like. What is there to like about you?" he finished harshly.

Lillian's eyes filled with tears as she started to cry. She had never heard anyone say such mean things about her before. Jack, unfortunately, had been used to such things being said about him for hundreds of years, but he still felt sad that his friend had to hear such things. He picked up Lillian in his arms and glared at August.

"That was uncalled for!" he snapped, his blue eyes turning darker in his anger. "Lillian cares more than anyone about Spring, and she can't help it that wherever she walks, Spring flowers sprout up! And in case you haven't noticed, she rescued all the missing spirits and sprites by 'selfishly going off to get her vengeance!'"

August balled his hands into fists as his eyes blazed.

"She doesn't care as much as Leif did!" he shouted. "He spent _hours_ making his flowers petal by petal and she does it in a few seconds! She spreads Spring in minutes without a care when Leif spent so much time carefully crafting everything about it!"

Lillian looked like she had been slapped and buried her face in Jack's shoulder. She hadn't meant for this to happen when she had asked August if he liked her. She didn't realize that August hated her so much.

"That's not fair!" Jack snarled. "Leif was _hundreds_ of years older than Lillian! Of course, he spent more time on it, he couldn't make flowers appear wherever he walked! Lillian's not even fifty yet! She doesn't know everything that Leif did!"

Jasper looked at the devasted Child of Spring and the very angry Winter Spirit. He sighed, as he knew as soon as Lillian asked that question, that things would get out of hand.

August went to reply but stopped when Jasper put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"She's just a kid, August," Jasper said quietly to him. "And she never knew Leif like we did. It's not fair to compare her to him.. They're two very different people."

August looked at Jasper then, and Jasper could see the pain in August's eyes. He knew that August missed their friend as much as he did. They were all so close once. Now that it was just August and Jasper, it wasn't the same.

August's expression became more closed off and he shrugged Jasper's hand off his shoulder.

"Whatever," August grumbled dismissively. He turned and stomped back off towards his room after sending Jack and Lillian a scathing look.

"He'll come around," Jasper said after an awkward pause. He noticed Jack's utter disbelief in this and shrugged. "He just misses Leif. I don't think August would like any spirit who replaced him. Leif wasn't perfect, but he was our friend. It's hard to think of someone else spreading Spring in his place."

Lillian's face was still buried in Jack's shoulder and Jack nodded at Jasper.

"Look," Jasper said as he tried hard to ignore Lillian's sobs. "If August won't help with the book, I know more than enough about him. I could even paint some summer scenes in his place. August can't paint or draw anyway. Anything he did would be terrible."

Lillian's sobs died down slowly and she sniffled as she raised her head a bit.

"R-really?" she asked, her voice still small.

Jasper felt his heart break a little at hearing that tiny voice. Lillian looked so much like a child, and right now, she sounded just like one. A child that was lost and in need of protecting. He suddenly understood why Pitch was so protective of her and fierce with anyone who he thought might hurt her in any way.

"Of course," Jasper said softly to her. "You're a fellow Seasonal, and.. we need to stick together."

He suddenly felt very guilty for all the times he had spent gossiping away about Jack and Lillian with August. They should be helping one another out, not going against each other like this.

"We'll ask Bunny about the painting later," Jack said to Jasper. "I think for right now we should go rest some more."

Jasper nodded as Jack carried Lillian out of the room. He slumped back down onto the bed and stared dejectedly at the floor.

"That could have gone better," he muttered.

Crispin put a comforting hand on Jasper's shoulder.

"It'll take some time for August to come around," he said as he comforted his Seasonal and friend. "He's just lashing out because he's still hurt from losing Leif."

Jasper ran a hand through his hair and nodded at his knees, which were now crossed on the bed as he looked down at them.

"Hey," Laurel said as she poked Jasper in the side playfully. "At least you'll get to paint, right? Just think of August's reaction when he learns you painted all the summer scenes for that book!"

She giggled at that and Jasper couldn't help but crack a grin. He knew that August would never stop complaining about it, but would secretly be pleased at the thought of people learning all about the hard work that went into spreading Summer. Of course, the book was probably going to make it sound like August did all the hard work. Jasper knew that August wouldn't mind if he left out the fact that August's Spirits and Sprites did all the hard stuff. No one had to know that he would smudge the truth a little to help out his friend.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Jack had finally gotten around to asking Bunny about the Warren. Lillian had been subdued all day ever since that terrible morning, and the Guardians had all taken notice but were reluctant to ask her about it. Pitch was spending more time with Mother Nature in her room, so that left Jack to keep Lillian company when she was out of her own room. But now he had left Lillian behind in her room after spending all morning getting her to finally calm down and reassuring her that it wasn't her fault Leif had disappeared.

Until Lillian had burst into fresh tears in her room, Jack had no idea that was even bothering her. He knew that he would have to talk to Pitch about it soon, so Pitch could talk to her about it. The thought of having one of their serious talks over tea almost brought a smile to Jack's face. He just wished that sometimes they wouldn't have to talk about such heavy things when they did so. They normally had their tea when Jack was upset about something.

With a sigh, Jack had left Lillian's room and wandered off in search of the Guardians. All of them were visiting North's more frequently, not that Jack had realized this of course. They were always around when he, Lillian and Pitch were at North's, and he hadn't realized that this was anything but ordinary. North, for his part, was ecstatic at all the extra company and happily offered them all eggnog and fruitcake whenever one of the Guardians turned up.

Jack had found them all in the globe room, munching on cookies and drinking from mugs. Well, North, Bunny, and Sandy had cookies. Tooth kept glancing at them with a pained look as she drank from her mug of hot chocolate.

"Jack!" North boomed out happily as the Winter Spirit entered the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Jack said honestly as he came to stand in front of them. He shifted from foot to foot a little anxiously as he hugged his staff to himself almost unconsciously for comfort. He didn't realize it, but he looked very much like a child who wanted to ask their parent something.

"What is it, sweetie?" Tooth asked as she picked up on Jack's body language.

"Lillian and I were thinking about getting back to work on our toys, now that we're feeling better," Jack began as he cast an anxious look at Bunny for some reason.

Bunny, for his part, was very confused by the anxious looks being thrown his way, but he remained silent while he waited for Jack to continue.

"Excellent!" North called out happily. "Will you need help with prototype? I know you were struggling to get force of snowballs to be more gentle. When you are finished with that, you can work on more toys too! We will make lots of toys together."

Some of Jack's anxiety seemed to melt away at that statement and he smiled as he continued to hug his staff like a teddy bear.

"Actually, Lillian really wanted to get to work on her book now that August and Jasper are here. She was thinking that they could all paint some scenes for her book, but.. uh.." Jack grew hesitant as he shot North an apologetic look. "..North doesn't have the sort of paints that she needs."

Understanding dawned in Bunny as he suddenly realized why Jack was so anxious and hesitant. He twitched his ears as he thought back to what felt like forever ago. Hadn't he offered to help Lillian out? He could vaguely remember offering her his Warren for her to paint in.

It hadn't been that long after they had hashed everything out about that terrible Easter too, he recalled, but then things had gotten in the way and while Jack and Lillian had spent more time than ever at North's, they hadn't any time to continue with their toy making.

Now it seemed like Lillian was finally going to take him up on his offer, but why hadn't she asked him herself?

"'Course she can come to the Warren," Bunny said warmly to Jack. "Ya all can. But why didn't she ask me? Not that I mind you askin', but.."

Jack sighed and looked down sadly at that.

"August really hurt her feelings," Jack admitted. "He said some cruel things to her when she asked him if he liked her. She didn't feel up to asking you herself, so I asked for her."

Bunny's face hardened at the admission and his tone turned to steel.

"What did he say to the sheila?" he more demanded than asked.

The other Guardians also sat up straighter at this. _No one_ would get away with hurting one of their few child spirits. No one.

Jack hugged his staff closer to himself as he shifted uncomfortably. He could remember Lillian desperately clinging to him as she sobbed and it was all Jack could do not to rush back to August and deck him for what he said to her.

"He accused her of not caring as much about Spring as Leif," Jack said after a brief pause while he gathered his thoughts. "He also said that Lillian doesn't spend as much time crafting Spring like Leif did. It bothered him that Leif spent a lot of time making his spring flowers, while Lillian effortlessly has them spring up at her feet. He uh, also said that Lillian was being selfish when she rushed off to go get her revenge on Gethen, and he accused her of being too childish for a Seasonal Spirit."

"She is a child!" Tooth cried out, sounding outraged and dismayed.

Jack nodded, glancing up at the outraged looks on the Guardians' faces.

"Jasper reminded him of it, and said that August wasn't being fair to her at all, but August didn't want to listen."

Bunny's face darkened and he took a few deep breaths to calm down.

"I'll have a talk with him," Bunny said, his voice still hard. "He needs ta learn that Lillian ain't Leif and that she'll do things differently than he did."

Jack looked a little awkward about that and fiddled with his staff as he looked back down at his feet. He saw a flash of golden symbols out of the corner of his eyes and looked back up to see Sandy asking him what was wrong.

Jack looked hesitant and the Guardians' hearts all dropped at that. Jack and Lillian had spent so much time at the Pole recently, but they had mostly been confined to their rooms as they had been very sick and recovering. Any time that had been spent with them had been fleeting, as Pitch had insisted that they needed to recover.

Then, Jack had disappeared after visiting Jasper's and everyone had panicked. When Jack and Lillian had finally returned, it was to find them all extraordinarily exhausted. North and Bunny had spoken to Jack a bit in California, but Jack was too distracted with what was going on. They really hadn't been able to spend much time with Jack after those few hours spent toy making.

This was the first time after that heart-to-heart they had about that terrible Easter that Jack had actually spoken to them about something important that was bothering him. Well, it was more about Lillian than anything, but it still hurt that Jack was hesitant to speak his mind around them.

"What is it?" North asked, his loud voice softer as he looked at Jack, who wasn't looking at any of them.

"I think Mother Nature should do it," Jack said after a beat, shocking them all. "She can talk to August when we're all in the Warren. Pitch can come along too. He's been spending all his time stressing out and worrying. He needs to relax for a bit too."

The Guardians had all realized this, of course, but they didn't know how to get Pitch to stop worrying about his children, so they let him fuss as much as he wanted. Sandy tried to make sure that Pitch was getting an adequate amount of sleep, but Pitch was often in Mother Nature's room and Sandy hadn't wanted to bother him.

Now they could see that maybe leaving Pitch alone hadn't been the right thing to do. Pitch so often had only himself to rely on that it probably never occurred to him that he could ask the Guardians for help in looking after the others.

They felt like they had let Pitch down _again._ Sandy remembered that it wasn't too long ago that Pitch was suffering from terrible nightmares about his past. Had those nightmares stopped once Pitch had made up with Mother Nature? Or was Pitch still having them and hiding it from them?

The normally happy spirit's mouth turned down into a frown as he thought about it. Jack and Lillian were the children spirits, but he had promised himself that the Guardians would look out for _all_ of them, Pitch included.

Bunny had been the one who wanted to talk to August, but he realized that perhaps he wasn't the right person for the job as he would probably start shouting at August and might even make things worse. Mother Nature was usually very calm and collected, and she had known Leif the best outside of the other Seasonals. She would be the better choice to talk to August about this.

Bunny recalled the very awkward tea time that he had with Pitch what seemed like forever ago in his Warren. He had given Pitch his special tea leaves that he rarely used even himself, to make sure it would last all the longer. He, of course, kept growing the plants for it, but he still used them very sparingly.

He remembered he had told Pitch he was different now, and Bunny realized that Pitch really was. At first, he had been flabbergasted at Pitch being a _Guardian_ , but Pitch wasn't the evil Pitch they had all known for several centuries. He truly had changed for the better. He cared about the children he spread nightmares to, and he cared so much about Jack and Lillian.

He nodded to himself and took a deep breath.

"Pitch can come ta my Warren too," Bunny said to Jack's surprise. "He can even help paint if he wants ta. Everyone can come with if they want. We'll make a day of it."

Tooth smiled happily as she remembered saying a long time ago that they could have a painting party. Bunny must have remembered that too.

"Ohh," she said with a happy squeal as an idea came to her. "We could have a picnic outside by the river! This'll be so much fun!"

Jack's face brightened at the mention of fun and his eyes lit up with childish glee at the thought. All the sprites and spirits could come too. They could all spend some time together, and they could see that Pitch wasn't evil anymore.

As North would say, it would be epic!

* * *

It had taken a _lot_ of convincing to get Pitch to go with to the Warren and leave Mother Nature's side. It had finally taken Mother Nature's own reassurance that she would be fine, coupled with Jack's input that it would hurt Lillian's feelings if Pitch didn't go and didn't Pitch want to spend time with them?

Jack's voice had sounded hurt at the end and he looked at Pitch with wide, pleading eyes. If the Guardians could see what Jack was up to, they would have all been smothering their laughter. Jack was using the oldest trick in the book: puppy dog eyes!

Pitch had finally agreed to go after that, as long as Jack wouldn't be too warm. Jack had happily agreed that he would be fine, especially after he had had a few days to rest. He was feeling so much better than he had on the day of the ceremony, and he was nearly back to normal.

Mother Nature was looking better than she had in days, so it made Pitch feel better about leaving her alone for a few hours. Once Pitch had bustled off to go see to Lillian and make sure she was ready to go, Jack had hung back to have a word with Mother Nature.

She had looked touched that Jack had chosen to confide in her about his worries about August and Lillian, and about the problems they were having.

She had reassured Jack that she would speak to August about his behavior and knew this could not be allowed to continue. Like it or not, August would have to at least try to get along with the Child of Spring. They might not ever be close, but August would not be allowed to remain hostile towards her.

* * *

There were several shrieks as various Spirits and Sprites all came tumbling out of a tunnel Bunny had made that opened up to the Warren. Kelby had landed in a heap with Crispin and Kale, while Lauren was tangled up with Flora.

The little sprites had all used their wings to fly out and they were soon followed by happy Jack Frost who flew out of the tunnel using his Wind, and promptly burst into laughter as Pitch ungracefully fell out with North and Jasper and landed in the heap of spirits at the end of the tunnel.

Tooth followed them out with a grin with Sandy floating serenely not far behind and Bunny was the last, with Lillian riding happily on his shoulders, all traces of that morning gone.

The Summer Spirits and Sprites were all noticeably missing, as they had chosen to stay behind with their Seasonal, but since Jack didn't get along with many of them (including Lucian, who he had dubbed 'Sparky,' much to the spirit's ire), it was probably for the better.

Bunny straightened up as he nimbly leapt over the heap of spirits and gently set Lillian on the ground as she gazed around in wonder again at the Warren. She would never grow tired of this place, she decided. _Ever._

After much groaning and grumbling, the spirits finally managed to untangle themselves from one another and get to their feet. Pitch, in particular, put a hand on his back as he stood up.

He hid a grimace as he felt his back crack uncomfortably as he straightened it out. He was getting too old for this.

Sandy placed a golden hand on Pitch's arm and Pitch looked down into concerned golden orbs. Pitch managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes as he pulled away from the golden man's hand.

"I'm fine," he snapped at the small Guardian.

Just to prove his point, he walked over to Jack and Lillian and proceeded to strike up a conversation with them. Lillian was practically bouncing in excitement and it made all of them smile to see her talking animatedly to Pitch, her gestures wide and her eyes glowing with excitement.

Jasper had watched Sandy's exchange with Pitch silently and tilted his head a little. He continued to watch Pitch as he walked and wondered if that was Pitch's standard response to everything. Then he looked surprised at himself for even wondering such a thing about Pitch Black of all people.

"If ya head over there," Bunny said as he gestured towards his river, "I'll go get the paints and we can set everythin' up."

Jasper nodded along with others and he made his way over to the dye river. Even though Spring wasn't his season, even he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the place. He was touched that the Easter Bunny had let him and his spirits join everyone in going to the Warren. It was rare for one of the Guardians to have any non-Guardian visitors in their home, and even more rare to invite a Seasonal in. He couldn't believe the faith that the Easter Bunny must have in him to not use his Seasonal magic in the Warren.

He glanced at Jack and realized that the Easter Bunny must have even more faith in Jack Frost since Jack could do quite a bit of damage with his Winter magic. As if sensing Jasper's gaze, Jack glanced over at his virtual twin and quirked his lips in a bit of a smirk.

Jasper returned the gesture with a mischievous look in his eyes and Tooth, who had caught the exchange, cooed at them.

"Oh, how cuuute!" she gushed as she fluttered around with her ever-present abundance of energy.

Jasper coughed and blushed in embarrassment and decided to pretend that Tooth hadn't said anything at all.

Before anyone could say anything else, Bunny had soon returned with his arms full of supplies. Jasper rushed forward to help out, and between the two of them, they managed to get several easels set up. He realized there were far too many for just the Seasonal Spirits and he shot the Easter Bunny a questioning look.

"I thought you'd all like a turn at paintin'," Bunny explained as he caught Jasper's look.

"This will be so much fun!" Tooth declared as she settled herself in front of an easel.

Pitch found himself tugged in front of an easel by _Bunny_ of all people, and he glared at the blank canvas in front of him.

"You have _got_ to be kidding," he all but snapped at the Pooka. He didn't come here to dabble in water colors, he came here to help out Jack and Lillian and to keep an eye on them! He was already on edge from leaving his poor Emily Jane all by herself and was worried if she would be alright...

Bunny rolled his eyes as he shoved a paint brush into Pitch's hands and a palette that had several paint colors already on it, ready for use.

"I ain't askin' ya to do anything difficult," Bunny snapped back at him. "I thought you were here ta support Jack and Lillian. Ya won't be able to do that by hoverin' over their shoulders the whole time!"

With that, Bunny walked off while grumbling under his breath about stubborn spirits. Pitch huffed at that and stared at the blank canvas. He looked down at the palette to see that Bunny had chosen some dark colors for him, but also bright ones. There was also a cup of water, so he could easily rinse his brush off when he wanted to switch colors.

Pitch continued to look at the canvas, suddenly uncertain of what he wanted to paint. He looked around at everyone and saw that Lillian was standing on a stool to reach her canvas and she was already painting away with her Spring Sprites and Spirits all by her, excitedly giving her suggestions on what she could add to her painting. Lillian's bright smile made Pitch's lips quirk for a moment before he turned to observe Jack.

He didn't notice as he did so that Jasper was secretly watching him the entire time, silently observing. Jasper was so distracted in fact, that he was neglecting his own painting.

"Did you want to add shadows into your scene?" Kale asked Jasper a little skeptically, as Jasper's more generic fall scene suddenly took a darker turn as shadows were becoming more prominent in it.

Jasper almost face palmed as he noticed it and realized that this might not be the best painting to put into the book. But as he continued to look at his painting, he realized he could still salvage it and make it a decent Fall painting. It would just have a spookier theme than what he normally liked.

He grinned as he made the shadows behind the trees even darker and when the paint had dried more, he made a pair of frightening, golden eyes looking out at the viewer from the shadows behind the trees.

In front of the trees were some pumpkins to give it all a more Halloween-type feeling.

Laurel shivered as she watched Jasper's painting take on a new life.

"That is _so_ creepy!"

While Jasper was correcting his painting, Pitch was watching Jack. His Spirits and Sprites were noticeably more subdued than the Spring and Fall ones, as they were the ones that had been held captive the longest, just after Jack had been named the Winter Spirit, in fact.

Neve and Neva sat on Jack's shoulders solemnly as they watched their Seasonal tilt his head as he wondered just what he should paint. The lone Winter Spirit was standing just behind Jack, essentially watching over his shoulder, but was careful to not stand too close so as to bother Jack. He remained silent as he watched to see what Jack would create, not feeling confident enough to offer his own suggestions. Jack wasn't anything like Mistral, who had been a demanding taskmaster in delivering his season, but the Winter Spirit still didn't feel as though he could suggest anything.

Maybe with time, he would eventually feel able to do so, but being held captive for so long didn't help in his levels of confidence. That and nearly dying at Gethen's hands twice didn't help either. He viciously shoved down any thoughts of Gethen and tried his best to forget the miserable three hundred years they had all endured..

Jack stared at the canvas, unaware of the turmoil of the spirit behind him, but he glanced back with questioning blue eyes.

"What do you think I should paint?" Jack casually asked, causing the Spirit's mouth to drop open comically.

Mistral _never_ asked for their opinion.

"..I.." the Winter Spirit said hesitantly, not really knowing what to say to his Seasonal. Neve glanced back at the Spirit, a look of understanding in his eyes. He brushed his white hair out of his face, and his crisp voice spoke up, saving the Winter Spirit the trouble of answering.

 _Since it's about winter,_ Neve observed, _you should have a scene with a lot of snow._

 _You_ _could have children ice skating,_ Neva's more musical tones piped in, her voice soft in Jack's ear, but loud enough so that the Winter Spirit could hear as well.

"..The children could be having a snowball fight.." the Winter Spirit very hesitantly added on, "or else building a snowman."

"I really want to add Jamie and his friends in," Jack admitted with a grin, "but this book is going to be distributed all around the world and I don't want anyone bothering them."

 _Jamie?_ Neva asked. _That boy that helped you before?_

She could remember when Jack had told her all about what had happened with him, Pitch Black, and the Guardians when they had first met with their Seasonal.

Jack absently nodded.

"I guess I could have someone that looks _sorta_ like him but not exactly," he mused more to himself.

With that, he began to put his brush to the canvas, trying out his hand at painting with actual paints for once instead of his frost.

Pitch was really lost for inspiration and found himself once again looked around at everyone else. Sandy had was floating gently in front of an easel and Pitch could see that Sandy's canvas was already covered in a lot of swirls of gold.

Tooth's canvas was covered in a riot of bright colors and she smiled happily even as she paused now and then to give out directions to her various fairies that kept flying up to her.

North was energetically slopping his paint all around and seemed to be getting more on himself than on the canvas, and Pitch had to look away with another quirk of his lips. After looking around some more, he could see that Bunny wasn't in front of an easel himself, but was instead leaning against a nearby tree as he sat and painted some eggs. Every once in awhile Bunny would glance up at the others to see how they were getting along. Pitch hastily averted his gaze when he noticed the emerald eyes gazing at him reproachfully, as Bunny noticed that Pitch hadn't even started yet.

Pitch returned his gaze back to the canvas as he stared at it. It was far too bright for his liking, he mused as he took in all the bright whiteness of it. He dipped his brush into a darker black, but then hesitated as he looked at the painting.

All his life seemed to be a series of shadows and darkness, at least what he could remember of it lately. Did he really want to paint something so dark?

He looked at the canvas some more and realized exactly what he wanted to paint. He began to brush the paint on the canvas, covering it in an inky blackness. As he painted, he added in some darker blues and various other colors.

He didn't notice Bunny thoughtfully watching him as he continued to paint, while Pitch tried to keep his darker moments as Kozmotis Pitchiner at bay.

For while Pitch had indeed made up with Mother Nature, that still didn't mean that he had stopped having his sleeping troubles. In fact, they were worse than they had ever been, especially with all the trouble with Jack and Lillian.

He was trying desperately to keep anyone from noticing and was hoping that when he, Jack, and Lillian all returned home, that everything would go back to the way it had been before his horrible nightmares had started.

So while he painted, Pitch tried not to let his own exhaustion show, as his thoughts drifted back to his life of so long ago.

* * *

Author's Note: So you can see why I had to make this chapter extra long. I had been planning on having everyone all paint together, as Tooth had brought up the painting party forever ago, but then I forgot about it. When I decided to bring it into the fic, I had at first wanted it to be all about the Seasonals. Then when I had gone back and actually read Toy Time and Toy Time Pt 2 again, I realized that I wanted Pitch to spend time with everyone else. _Then_ I decided to have _everyone_ go, because why not? August wasn't cooperating however, since he's still struggling to get over the loss of Leif and with his dislike of Lillian.

When I was browsing through past chapters, I realized that it had never been addressed if Pitch's nightmares had ever stopped, since too much plot was in the way, so I decided that Pitch had probably gone back to keeping them a secret from everyone again. It'll probably take some time for him to start asking anyone for any help. Tea Time with Sandy wouldn't fix all that in a day. I hope you guys don't mind that even with the author's notes, this chapter is over 9,000 words!

The next chapter will feature the rest of the painting party as well as Mother Nature's talk with August. When everyone gets back, Mother Nature will probably force August to talk to Lillian, so they can clear the air. Then after Pitch, Lillian, and Jack are settled back into their home finally, we'll get to see some more action with the next plot.

So you can expect that to happen within the next chapter or two, since I feel bad for making everyone wait so long. If you guys still have anymore fluffy ideas for everyone, I'll make sure to include them in later chapters. I can never have too much cuteness or fluff!


	76. Interlude 16: Over 300 Years Ago

Author's Note: I know, I know! You are all probably saying "But she said she felt bad about delaying the plot! Why are we getting an interlude?!" Before you all start rioting, I have to tell you that the next chapter is almost done. I just have an uncooperating Jasper to wrangle with and then it will be finished. I don't want to end it until all the painting is done with and since it's already almost 9 pages long, it could turn out to be another long one. The chapter after _that_ won't stop until Pitch and Co. are settled back down at home. I don't know how long that will be since my chapters have a tendency to go out of control and be longer than I plan. So the plot is most likely going to resume two chapters away from now.

The idea for this Interlude popped into my head when I was reading early chapters of Child of Spring. I often have to go back and look up information I had previously written since I have too many chapters to keep it all straight in my head. Plus sometimes even I like to go back and reread it just for the fun of it. :P Anyway, I had hinted about Jack's wavering belief after a Christmas when I had been writing about the blue lights and explaining about the first one before the second one popped up. I never explicitly said it was North's fault, but it was implied.

So of course after that, I had to write about Jack's first Christmas and the incident with his blue light appearing in Antarctica in more detail. I have to warn you that this chapter is very sad, but it will feature a young Jack Frost, who still hasn't gotten his hoodie yet. I think I might intersperse the current chapters with peeks into Jack's hundreds of years of solitude. I think it would be interesting to see how Jack met each of the Guardians (or in Tooth's case, one of her fairies).

Sorry to keep you all in suspense about the actual plot, but I hope you like this interlude anyway.

Interlude Sixteen: Over 300 Years Ago

Over three hundred years ago, Jack Frost had been created. He hadn't realized the significance of his creation, or even in fact, what he was. He had landed on the ice on his lake and discovered a staff nearby his feet and soon discovered that he could use it to make frost.

It had taken Jack a long time to finally master his powers and figure out that he was supposed to be spreading Winter everywhere, but only when it was in season. It had also taken Jack quite a few years to finally master flying without falling out of the air. The Wind seemed to have a mind of its own and hadn't taken kindly to Jack ordering it about.

Now, however, Jack could fly freely wherever he wished as long as he asked the Wind nicely. It loved to take the winter child wherever he wanted to go and seemed to enjoy having him fly fast while occasionally having him do dives playfully. The Wind seemed to be as playful as Jack, and Jack was glad to have the Wind to talk to. He had been very lonely without a friend.

It was when Jack was wandering around a town that he had first heard about the Guardians. Or more specifically, Christmas. Jack was still wearing the same outfit he had come out of the lake in, and it was now winter time. He was lazily twirling his staff while listening in on some kids' conversations.

The children were young and had stopped in the snow to build a snowman. There had been a lot of shrieks of laughter and much snow throwing while they had done so, and after the snowman had been built, they settled down into excitedly talking about Christmas.

"I cannot wait!" a small girl squealed happily. "I know Santa will come! Mother said he would, and I have been extra good this year."

The boy, who was a little older, nodded eagerly as well.

"I helped Father chop the wood for winter," he said proudly. "I have done as he said and I know Santa will come. He only visits good kids after all."

Jack stopped twirling his staff as he looked intrigued. There was someone called Santa that came to the good children in town?

"What presents will he bring?" the girl wondered out loud. "I really hope it is a doll. I have always wanted one."

"It could be a new dress," the boy said in a teasing tone.

"What are you to get?" the girl asked him with a smirk of her own. "New boots?"

The children both took a look at their own faces after such declarations and burst out laughing. It wasn't long after that, that their parents both called out to them and the children ran off.

Jack looked interested in all this. Santa came to good children and gave them presents? Jack paused to think about what he had done and a smile grew on his face. He had spread winter without fail and had started a lot of good snowball fights.

True, sometimes he had spread Winter out of turn, but that had been before he had really gotten the hang of his powers. Now he could spread Winter with ease and since the Wind and he had finally become friends, things were so much easier.

Unfortunately, it was those incidents before he had learned to fully control his powers that had Jack Frost labeled as a terrible prankster, who only liked to play tricks. The spirit world that had once been interested in Mistral's replacement had completely dismissed Jack after his so-called "pranks" and now had nothing to do with him.

Jack hadn't quite realized that of course, since to him he had only made a few mistakes and new spirits were allowed to make some mistakes, right?

It had taken Jack until that next year after he had been born to realize that there were other spirits in the world. That spring after his first winter, he had managed to get on Leif's bad side by accidentally making it snow on the first day of spring.

In fact, Jack had managed to get on almost all the Seasonals' bad sides that year after his first winter. Too used to Mistral and his harsh, unforgiving winters, the Seasonals hadn't given Jack a chance to explain that it wasn't on purpose.

Jasper, in particular, had yelled some very harsh things to Jack after Jack had accidentally made a blizzard form right over a forest where Jasper had been painting fall leaves. Jack had been amazed to see another spirit that so looked like him and had wanted to get to know him better, but after the snow started falling and Jasper had started yelling, Jack had made a hasty retreat, the Wind jerkily flying him away after Jack had ordered it to.

Now it was a few years after that and Jack was hardly five years old as a spirit. He grinned to himself and asked the Wind to take him home. The wind complied by lifting the winter child into the air after ruffling his hair affectionately with a breeze.

Jack laughed as he soared through the sky, feeling more free than he ever had. His brown cloak flapped behind him and his blue eyes sparkled in delight. It wasn't long before the wind set him down by the lake that he had first woken up from.

Jack had always felt a pull to the place where he had been born and often returned there in the winter. He hated to see the water unfrozen in the lake and couldn't even explain to himself why the thought of thin ice made his heart beat faster.

Jack often snuck back throughout the year when he could stand it, just to make sure the water was still frozen. The residents of the nearby town of Burgess hadn't failed to notice this strange phenomenon and had decided that the lake was cursed. They decided that the spirit of the boy who had drowned was unhappy and so the residents tried to avoid the lake as often as possible.

Not knowing anything about this, Jack rushed off to the town after the Wind had him land. He felt the breeze flutter around him as the Wind seemed to be exasperatedly telling him that she could have brought him to the town if he wanted to.

Jack had laughed and said that sometimes it was good to get exercise. Once he was in town, Jack set about spying on all the children and their families, to see if he could confirm that Santa would come here as well. He needed to find out more about this Santa and when he would come.

A week later, Jack had learned all that he needed to. Santa came on Christmas Eve and only if you were asleep in bed. If you left Santa a letter and some milk and cookies, he would leave you gifts if you had been good that year.

Jack had been so excited that he was practically bouncing around as Christmas Eve approached. He wished he had known about Santa years ago, so he could have seen him before. Jack knew he was young for a spirit since all the other ones he had seen had looked older than him. Jack also knew that he wasn't a small child, yet he wasn't an adult either. He felt that this qualified him to have a visit from Santa as well.

So it was that Christmas Eve that Jack had settled down by his lake to write out a letter. He had brushed snow off a particularly large flat rock near his lake and carefully wrote out a letter on a borrowed scrap of parchment with an ink and quill.

It read:

 _Dear Santa,_

 _I have been very good this year. I now have all my winter powers under control and the Wind is one of my very best friends. She looks out for me and I try my best to treat her well. I heard from the children in town that you visit good children and bring them gifts. I would very much like to have a special gift from you. I do not know what I want, but I know if it is from you, it will be the best gift in the world._

 _I have no cookies nor milk to leave out for you since I have no stove or any glasses for milk but I hope you like this small ice sculpture instead._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Jack Frost_

Jack had pondered where to put the note and had finally settled on carefully folding it and leaving it tucked under the ice sculpture on the flat rock he had used as a writing surface. The ice sculpture had been of a miniature sleigh. It was what he thought Santa's sleigh must look like and he thought the delicate ice had been the best creation he had ever done.

It had taken him several days to complete and even the Wind had thought the ice sculpture was quite good. Jack had grinned to himself at that and his good mood continued all the way until Christmas Eve.

Now it was night time and Jack had settled down in his favorite sleeping tree to eagerly sleep the night away. And like all children all over the world, Jack fell asleep to have happy dreams of what he would get from Santa that Christmas.

The next morning, Jack awoke when the first rays of the sun shone brightly onto his face. Jack leapt down from his tree branch, his fall softened hastily by the Wind that blew a little harshly in a reprimand for him to be more careful.

Jack grinned cheekily at that and hurried over to the rock where he had left his present for Santa. He just knew that Santa had come and -

Jack stopped abruptly when he saw the miniature sleigh was still there, a scrap of folded paper tucked carefully underneath. With trembling fingers, Jack gently picked up the ice sculpture and then the scrap of paper.

The sculpture fell out of his hands, but Jack hardly heard the tinkling of broken ice as he saw his own handwriting staring back at him from the scrap of paper. The lines of the paper grew wavery as a crushing disappointment filled him.

It began to snow as Jack grew more emotional and soon a harsh blizzard was starting. Wanting to help the winter child, the Wind had picked him up and carried him at top speed to Antarctica. She knew that Jack couldn't remain near Burgess when his powers were as out of control as his emotions.

When she had set Jack down in the snow of the desolate land, Jack had fallen to his knees. His shoulders shook as sobs wracked his frame, frozen tears trailing down his cheeks.

He had thought that Santa would come and that _finally_ , he would have someone other than the Wind that would be able to see him and be his friend. The children had spoken of Santa with such admiration that Jack had thought that Santa would understand about his spreading Winter, unlike all the other spirits he had seen.

The more he had heard about this mysterious Santa, the more Santa had grown in his eyes to be a sort of hero that would solve anyone's troubles. He would spread joy and wonder throughout the town and finally, Jack would be able to experience it too.

That illusion had been shattered the moment Jack had seen his own handwriting staring back him from the scrap of paper. His belief that Santa would make everything better had been almost snuffed out before it had hardly begun.

As Jack sat there sobbing in the snow, the wind howling around him in a sorrowful gale, he wondered not for the first time, what it was that he had done wrong to have everyone hate him so.

* * *

North had been happy at yet another successful Christmas and had complimented his yetis and elves on yet another job well done. He had just gotten back and had a mug of eggnog in his hands when he wandered over the globe. He had been very happy to spread so much joy and wonder all around the world, and seeing all the happily shining golden lights made his heart swell with happiness. As he thought back to the naughty and nice children of the world, his thoughts drifted to the Naughty List.

Jack Frost had been at the top of the Naughty List for several years and this had been the year that he finally gave up on Jack ever changing and had underlined Jack's name in red ink. He hadn't even stopped to think as he did so that it was supposed to be impossible for spirits to appear on the list, and that only children showed up on it anyway.

As he stood in front of the globe, North's eyes wandered over the golden lights and he wondered what had become of the lone blue one.

It had been a curious thing, but he had noticed around five years ago that a blue light had appeared. It had first been a little dim, but he noticed as the years wore on that the light had become brighter and brighter.

North had no idea why this particular light was blue, but he had been glad that whoever this child was, that their belief was growing stronger. He had been very pleased this year in particular as he saw the light shine the brightest it ever had.

So it was a complete shock when he finally spotted the blue light in _Antarctica_ in all places, the light extremely dim and flashing as the mysterious child wavered on the very edge of belief.

North had dropped his mug in shock and rushed right off to set off the aurora to call the Guardians to him. He only hoped that they weren't too late.

Bunny had been the first to appear and had rushed right over to the distraught North.

"What's wrong?!" Bunny practically shouted at North. "What is it?! Pitch?!"

North shook his head quickly at Bunny and was about to explain when Tooth and Sandy both flew in, almost crashing into one another in their haste. They rushed over by North and Bunny and both began speaking at once, Tooth going a mile a minute and Sandy with several golden symbols rapidly appearing over his head.

"Is blue light!" North cried out in dismay. "Look!"

They all looked at the globe as North gestured and Tooth gave a gasp of dismay as Bunny's ears went back. Sandy bowed his head as they all looked at the light, on the edge of going out and losing its belief forever.

"We have to help that child. I do not know how they came to be in such a place, but we must save them!" North said in a rush.

Sandy got a look of determination on his face and before the others could say anything, he had flown off as fast as he could on his golden cloud.

Sandy had been taken by surprise when he reached Antarctica to see the worst blizzard he had ever seen covering almost the entire continent. He had almost been blown right off his cloud and with all the snow and strong wind, he had practically no visibility and no hope of finding much of anything.

He had stubbornly stayed there for more than an hour, but he hadn't been able to find anything or hear any children whatsoever.

Looking very defeated, Sandy had flown back to North's and relayed the news of what he had seen.

Tooth's wings had grown still and she dropped her head into her hands.

"What are we going to do?!" she wailed into them, her voice muffled. "We have to help that child!"

But none of the Guardians could think of what to do to help the blue light. They had held a vigil in the globe room for two days. Two nerve wracking days, as the blue light flickered. The flickers had grown further and further apart as disbelief had started setting in.

They knew it was only a matter of time before the light went out.

Then, on what was to be the third day, Bunny had blearily looked at the globe. He was completely exhausted as none of them had gotten any sleep at all, so it took him a moment for what he was seeing to finally register.

 _The blue light had moved._

"The light!" he shouted, startling them all.

The others rushed right over and they all stared at the blue light. It was so very dim, but it had stopped flickering. It was rapidly moving away from Antarctica. As it seemed to move from country to country at incredible speeds, the Guardians all stared at one another in shock.

What was this light?

* * *

Jack had been inconsolable for two days, as he alternated between crying and staring off into space. He had taken to laying in the snow, letting the Wind rage around him as she cried out for her winter child.

It had been that third day when Jack had just finished crying and was now looking despondently up into the whirling snow all around him that the Wind had finally settled down and stopped raging all around him.

She ruffled Jack's hair and he heard the Wind whispering to him, offering the comfort that he needed as she told him that he wasn't bad. She offered that perhaps Santa was too busy with the children of other towns, and she also pointed out that they all had houses, while Jack had none.

The thought of not having a true home hadn't exactly cheered Jack up, but he realized that perhaps that Santa did exist after all. All those children wouldn't be so excited if there hadn't been any Santa. When Jack had been so upset, he had started to lose his belief, doubting that there had ever been a Santa.

But now his belief had come back, a light, fragile thing that wouldn't take much to be broken. With a heavy heart, Jack had asked the Wind to take him away.

And so it was at least thirty years before Jack had the confidence to try contacting another spirit again.

But with the Wind always there as his constant companion, Jack's depression had slowly lifted and his life had returned back to the way it had been. Winters had once again become filled with fun and snowball fights, but Jack had never forgotten his very first Christmas and he never wrote to Santa again until over two hundred years later.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry about all the sadness. I can't help it when I get the urge to write something and I just had to write this for some reason. Even though it's pretty sad, I like looking into Jack's early life as a spirit. We're just lucky that Jack wasn't actually alone for an entire 300 years in this fic, since Lillian and Pitch cut his time short in 1968.

The next chapter will be out hopefully before the weekend's over. If not, then definitely sometime next week. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this one!

Oh, and the next Interlude will feature what happened thirty years later when Jack tried contacting another spirit. It won't be as sad, I promise.

 **Edit:** Got my timing a little confused at the end. Jack wrote to Santa on Lillian's behalf well before Rise of the Guardians, so it was over TWO hundred years and not three. Whoops!


	77. Chapter Sixy-One: Painting Continued

Author's Note: Here's the chapter finally. I hope you guys like it. Thanks for all the follows and faves! :)

Chaper Sixy-One: Painting Continued

They continued to paint for a few hours, the silence being broken by the chatter of the spirits and sprites to their Seasonals and the occasional comment by Tooth or North as they painted.

North was especially exuberant in his painting, creating a big mess by his easel as he painted carelessly, slopping more and more paint on his canvas.

Every once in awhile Jasper would glance his way and wince as if it hurt to see North painting so crudely. He quickly turned back to his own painting, having finished his scary one over an hour ago. He had moved onto the painting he was hoping would be the one used in the book for his season.

He wasn't sure what to think about this book as he painted, his brush strokes even more careful in response to North's careless ones. He knew the only reason Lillian could have for telling the world about the Seasonals was to gain believers, but he had never desired any. He had his Spirits and Sprites, and that had been enough, really.

His expression grew more serious as he carefully painted the colorful leaves on the trees. He had Leif and August and that had been enough.

It wasn't like he needed anyone. He had his painting and his work and that should be enough, right?

His shoulders slumped a little as he realized that it hadn't been enough. Not really. He threw himself into his work more than ever after Leif had mysteriously vanished, but it had never been enough. August had become distant, and he hardly ever saw the Summer Spirit, except only vaguely sometimes at the start of Fall.

Sometimes August would try to wheedle a few more days for Summer out of him, and sometimes he would relent, but mostly he was insistent that his season had to begin on time. Actually, due to all the strange weather, this was the most he had seen August in years.

It was the most he had seen any spirits in years, really, outside of his own Seasonal Spirits. His expression turned a little gloomy as he considered it. He usually kept himself so busy with his painting that he didn't realize how lonely he was.

He glanced at the others who were painting and wondered how he could feel so lonely when he was surrounded by so many people.

He didn't realize that there a couple spirits there who could totally relate. He let his gaze slide from his own painting and he glanced at Lillian, who was still grinning happily, absorbed in her task. She really looked happy to be painting, and that had Jasper wondering if she really liked art.

He hadn't taken the time to get to know her, he realized. As he saw Jack's soft smile he realized that he didn't know much about Jack Frost either. For two spirits of opposite seasons, Jasper could tell that Jack and Lillian were quite close. As he thought about Jack comforting Lillian earlier in the day, he felt a pang that reminded him of his friend.

He had first heard about the baby Spring Spirit years ago and had realized what the significance was of her appearance, but he had refused to believe it until he had seen her one day, spreading Spring flowers out of season one Halloween. The child had been carefree, but Jasper had looked pained to see all the out of season flowers blooming.

He remembered going back home that night as he realized he would never see Leif ever again. He had painted a portrait of Leif then, portraying him being surrounded by the spring flowers he so loved. He remembered taking one look at that painting and bursting into tears. His startled sprites had tried to comfort him, but he couldn't be comforted.

Jasper hadn't realized he had stopped painting until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He found himself looking into the worried violet eyes of the Tooth Fairy, her wings fluttering behind herself as she looked at him anxiously.

"Are you okay?" she asked Jasper, her tone sounding as worried as she looked.

She barely even knew Jasper and only knew that he was the Fall Spirit. Yet here she was, asking if he was alright.

Jasper blinked back his tears as he forced the memory away. He gave the Tooth Fairy a smirk so reminiscent of Jack when he was covering up his true feelings that it almost hurt to see.

"I'm fine," he easily lied to her. "I was just thinking about what to paint next," he continued as he gestured vaguely at his painting.

Kale exchanged a look with Crispin behind Jasper's back. They could tell just from his tone that he wasn't fine. Maybe he hadn't been fine for a long time. It's not like anyone actually cared about the Seasonals, outside of Mother Nature. Even then, they only saw her rarely.

Tooth studied Jasper seriously for a moment and he could tell that she didn't believe him. However, he just squared his shoulders and resumed his painting resolutely. After a moment, Tooth's wings drooped a bit and she returned back to her own painting.

Jasper glanced at her and for a moment, their eyes connected as she had been glancing at him as well. She gave him a warm smile, but he just looked away, unsure of what to do with such attention from a _Guardian._

Tooth's smile faded as she saw Jasper look away from her, his eyes only for his painting. The Fall Spirit was so quiet and reserved. They had barely seen him while he had been staying at the North Pole, preferring to stay in his room with his own Spirits and Sprites while he recovered.

She puzzled over this while she continued her own painting, which was very colorful. Jack and Lillian were so close, but Jasper and August didn't seem to be quite that close. From what she had seen of them (which had been very little), she could tell that they were friends but there was also a kind of distance.

August had seemed a little too wrapped up in himself and Jasper a little too polite. She had noticed that August was missing from their little painting party of course, and she wondered how Jasper was taking it. From the sad look on his face that she had seen, she guessed that it wasn't very well.

Jasper, of course, wasn't sparing August much thought at all, as he continued to paint. He let his thoughts drift as he automatically chose beautiful Fall colors to add in. He sighed softly to himself as he thought of his own forest, which had been calling to him more strongly every day.

He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to keep an eye on Pitch, which was too bad since Pitch had a look of utmost concentration on his face as he carefully painted. After he had done the initial dark background, he had the used other colors to paint a large object in the foreground, in dark colors. It looked like a dark ship, beautiful and deadly looking with sharp angles. He was careful in the colors he used for it, using various ones to make the ship seem lighter than the background, but still dark.

In the background was a small dark schooner, sailing around happily. The two ships were in outer space, with the sky a myriad of colors. They were surrounded by hundreds of white stars.

Pitch looked for a moment as if he wanted to go inside the painting,* but then he shook his head and looked at it critically. It was complete rubbish, of course. He had accidentally made the schooner too big and the angles were a little off on his ship.

He mentally shrugged to himself but continued to paint. He found the even brush strokes he used on the canvas to be relaxing, and even if his painting was bringing up memories from long ago, he was relieved to see that it wasn't bringing up terrible ones just yet.

When the painting seemed to be winding down, Bunny finally stood from his spot by the tree and announced that it would soon be time for a very late lunch/early dinner. He said he would be back in a few minutes and that they should all remain by the river.

Tooth and Sandy offered to help of course, but Bunny just waved them away while he walked off to his home.

Jasper had been startled out of his painting by Bunny's announcement and he looked at his Fall painting. He had filled every last inch of the canvas in color, depicting a forest full of colorful leaves, but he had been careful to make the forest very generic and nothing like his actual home. There were also a few pumpkins scattered about and a winding road was in front of the forest. The road was a dirt road and it was impossible to tell what time the painting was meant to be in. He simply wanted the viewer to be completely immersed in the sensation of his season, he didn't care if it was in modern times or not.

North had been the first to break away from his painting as he walked over to the tree where Bunny had been sitting and flopped down gracelessly, resting back against the tree.

"Painting is hard work!" he declared to no one as he grinned widely.

"It sure is," Tooth agreed as she joined him on the ground.

Sandy had looked over at Pitch, but Pitch seemed to be completely absorbed in his painting, so he let the boogeyman be for now, as he wandered over to join his friends. Golden symbols formed over his head as he asked them how their paintings were going.

"Great!" North boomed out. "I am doing abstract art of North Pole with lots of toys around."

Sandy glanced over at North's painting and squinted. If you tried looking _really_ hard, it sort of resembled the North Pole. Vaguely.

Tooth looked out at the other Seasonals, her smile brightening as she saw Jack and Lillian talking animatedly amongst themselves. Her smile dimmed a little, however, when she took in Jasper and Pitch, all alone.

Pitch didn't seem to mind being by himself, as he was immersed in his painting, but Jasper looked to be finished with his own and at a loss on what to do next. She saw him glance at Jack and Lillian with a wistful look on his face that hurt her heart. After watching him for a few moments, she finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Jasper," she called out to him in a friendly tone.

The Fall Spirit jumped a little in surprise and whirled around to stare at the Tooth Fairy, his eyes wide as he saw the rest of the Guardians all sitting together under a tree.

The Tooth Fairy gave him a warm smile and she beckoned him over.

"Why don't you come sit with us?" she asked as she patted the ground nearby her.

A look of uncertainty crossed Jasper's face at that as if he weren't used to others taking any sort of interest in him like that and it made the Guardians exchange silent looks with one another. Were all of the Seasonals besides Jack and Lillian so lonely?

"Come on," North called out with a friendly smile.

Sandy copied North's friendly smile with one of his one and he gave the Fall Spirit a thumbs up.

Jasper, for his part, just looked very uncertain and bewildered on why the Guardians had taken such an interest in him. He wasn't a child, he was just a Seasonal Spirit. Seasonals normally never interacted with the Guardians.

After a few moments though, he finally wandered over and sat down by them. He made sure to stay a little ways away so as not to bother them though, but apparently, that wasn't what they had in mind when they called him over.

"So Jasper," Tooth started up conversationally, causing Jasper's eyes to jerk over to her. In the background his own spirits had taken to talking to one another, occasionally glancing at him but giving him privacy to converse with the Guardians. "Did you have a good Fall last year?"

Jasper stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth practically hanging open.

"You paint the leaves, right?" Tooth asked casually, seeming to ignore Jasper's total surprise at the question.

"..Yes," he finally answered her. "My spirits and sprites also help me maintain the temperature of Fall while I do so."

North furrowed his brow as he leaned forward curiously, never having an opportunity to speak so openly to a Seasonal before.

"You paint all the leaves by hand?" he asked incredulously.

Jasper nodded as now it was the Guardians' turn to gape at him.

Golden symbols appeared over Sandy's head as they showed a leaf followed by a golden bed and then finally a big, golden question mark.

Jasper took a moment to decipher this, and then half-asked "When do I sleep?"

Sandy nodded emphatically, and Jasper shrugged.

"Fall's a pretty busy time for me," he said as he avoided looking at the Sandman.

Sandy frowned and shook a finger at Jasper, admonishing him for not getting his proper rest.

Jasper noticed this and shot Sandy a half irritated, half exasperated look.

"It takes a long time for me to paint all of the leaves," he said, frustration leaking out into his voice. "I sleep as much as I can as soon as Winter takes over, but until then I don't get a lot of sleep. It takes a lot for me to paint all of the leaves."

"Why not use something faster, such as paint gun?" North innocently suggested with a twinkle in his eye. The extremely scandalized look that Jasper got caused the Guardian to burst out laughing.

North continued chuckling at Jasper's expression but he soon relented when Jasper started to look a little hurt at all the laughing.

"I kid, I kid," North said as the last of his chuckles died off. "But it takes a long time for you to paint, no?"

Jasper shrugged, still trying to get the image of North with a paint gun slinging paint all around at his precious leaves out of his mind.

"I like painting," he finally said, his tone a little stiff.

"You're so good at it too!" Tooth gushed as she gestured at Jasper's lovely painting of Fall.

"I guess," Jasper said a little uncomfortably, not understanding the sudden interest in himself at all.

"Tell me," North said, suddenly serious, "What were you like before you were chosen? Why did Mother Nature want you as a Fall Spirit?"

Jasper looked from one earnest face to another as he took in the strange question. No one had ever asked him that before, not even August or Leif.

"Mother needed a Fall Spirit," Jasper said as he thought back to so long ago. "The previous one had faded and there was no one to govern it, except for the spirits and sprites and they can't manage it all by themselves. I didn't know that, however. I was an artist, struggling to make ends meet. She had seen me painting a fall scene on the street, carefully painting each leaf in the picture, applying just the right color."

Jasper smiled fondly as he remembered his past life and his first meeting with Mother Nature.

"She asked me if I wanted to continue my painting, and if I would like helping out nature in the process. I was curious, and when she showed me some of her powers, I accepted. I had often thought of what it would be like to paint leaves for real, to give them their vibrant Fall colors."

"You were a Seasonal before yer time," an Austrailian accent piped up that caused Jasper to flinch in surprise.

Jasper looked over at Bunny with wide eyes, but Bunny just smirked at him.

"Sounds like Mother Nature chose wisely," he commented as he spread out a large checkered blanket by a space near their easels, but far enough away to not have paint fumes and set down a large picnic basket on it. "Food's ready!" he called out to the others, who stood and made their way over to it.

Everyone sat down on the blanket, with Jack and Lillian on either side of Pitch (to Jasper's immense relief). Jasper somehow wound up stuck in between Bunny and Sandy, while Tooth sat next to Jack and tried not to fangirl too much over his perfect teeth. She couldn't resist sneaking a few peeks now and then though.

Jasper and the Guardians were on one side of the basket while Pitch, Lillian, and Jack were on the other. The various sprites had settled down onto various shoulders to rest and the Spirits hesitantly settled down at either end of the picnic basket to complete their large circle.

When the basket had been opened it, it was to discover that there were several different kinds of sandwiches inside, as well as some vegetarian wraps for those who didn't eat meat, since Bunny suspected most nature spirits preferred not to.

Bunny himself had a large salad already prepared that had a lot of carrots in it. He made sure that he made more than enough for himself. He had to make a couple trips back and forth for extra bowls, utensils, and mugs, but soon everyone had a mug of something in front of them and something to eat.

Jasper had decided to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sat chewing his while he glanced across the basket to Pitch, Jack, and Lillian.

Pitch had helped Jack and Lillian each to a small salad and had also given them each a sandwich. Lillian had complained about the salad but a stern look from Pitch had made her quiet down.

Jasper tried hard not to stare, but it was unreal to watch.

"Pitch, how's your painting coming along?" Tooth asked after she had taken a bite of her own sandwich, which was tuna salad.

Pitch merely shrugged.

"It's no Picasso, but I suppose it will do," he answered her easily enough. Then he rounded on Lillian and told her to take smaller bites.

"My painting has kids building a snowman," Jack said.

Even though it had been a good winter suggestion to have kids ice skating, Jack just couldn't bring himself to do it. Although he hadn't minded adding a frozen lake in there.

"That's great, Jack! And you too, Pitch!" Tooth said encouragingly.

"Mine has spring flowers in it," Lillian announced. "And I was thinking more about the book.. I think I'm going to add Leif into the Spring section. People should know about him too."

Jasper froze at that, stopping in mid-chew. He swallowed his bite of sandwich that suddenly felt like sandpaper going down his throat.

"What?" he managed to get out, his voice came out sort of breathily in shock.

Lillian didn't look at him as she took a bite of salad. She chewed and swallowed carefully.

"He's important, and.. and.. everyone should know about him. He shouldn't just fade away and have everyone forget about him."

Jack looked at Lillian with sympathy.

"This is about what August said, isn't it?"

Pitch tensed, not having heard about this part of the day. He had spent that morning with Mother Nature, hovering over her.

"What exactly did August say?" he said, his tone eerily calm.

Lillian mumbled what August said down to her sandwich and Pitch looked furious.

"How _dare_ he!" Pitch fumed. "Just wait until I.."

Bunny spoke up then.

"Not that we mind ya protectin' Lillian, but makin' the gumby wet his bed when he sleeps ain't really the way to go about it."

Pitch eyed Bunny then but stopped with the verbal threats. He supposed it might not be particularly Guardian-like to seek revenge like that, but what the Guardians didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Isn't it?" Jack spoke up again to Lillian.

"He's a better Spring Spirit than me," Lillian said dejectedly. "Everyone likes him better anyway. He should be in the book."

"No."

Jasper's quiet voice cut in, sounding unusually firm.

"The book should only be about the current Seasonals. Otherwise, you would have to include Mistral to be fair."

There was a collective shiver amongst the spirits that had known Mistral, but Jack and Lillian looked confused.

"Who's that?" Lillian asked curiously.

"He was the Spirit of Winter before Jack," Jasper explained, his voice still quiet. "He always started Winter early and ended it as late as he dared. His Winters were particularly harsh, and many people died from his blizzards."

"That's terrible!" Lillian exclaimed. "I'm glad Jack's in charge of Winter now. He makes it fun."

Jasper pursed his lips for a moment as he glanced at Jack. He couldn't help but recall one of the first times he had met Jack, several hundred years ago. Jack had been trying to get the hang of his powers yet and had set off a blizzard when it was still Fall.

Jasper's precious magical paint had all been frozen, and his leaves that year were completely ruined.

Jack perhaps was thinking of the same thing as he gave Jasper a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about your leaves," he said. "I didn't mean to freeze them that year. I just wanted to see your leaves and.. um.."

Jasper looked upset for a moment, but then he just sighed sadly as thoughts of Leif stole into his mind.

"It was only once," he said as he returned to his sandwich, "and you haven't done it again."

"I really want Leif in the book though," Lillian insisted.

"He ain't a better spirit than you," Bunny interjected. "He just had more experience."

"August likes him better," Lillian said sadly.

Jasper looked down at that and the Guardians all exchanged glances. All the Spirits had known that Leif, August, and Jasper had been thick as thieves.

The Guardians waited to see if Jasper would say anything to this, but he didn't seem to know what to say. His head was bowed and his hair was hanging down, covering his eyes. He looked very much like Jack when Jack was sad.

"It must be hard with him gone," Tooth ventured. "August was very good friends with him and I'm sure he didn't mean what he said."

Lillian sighed heavily and poked her salad with her fork, moving the carrots around moodily.

"I just thought it would be nice," she finally admitted. "I can't help it if I'm not like Leif."

Jasper had finished his sandwich and he went to stand.

"..I should get going," he said, his voice a little rough with emotion.

"You're leaving?" Tooth said in dismay.

"I need to get back home," Jasper said as he finally stood. "You can keep my painting for the book."

"Jasper?" Laurel said hesitantly, but her Seasonal didn't reply.

Pitch eyed the Fall Seasonal. His shoulders were slumped and his head was still down.

"Running away won't help," he told Jasper, who lifted his head a little to look at Pitch. "It won't make you feel any better."

He looked conflicted for a moment as if he weren't sure how to act around this Pitch or what he should say to that comment. He was silent for a beat before he spoke again.

"I need to get home," he repeated. "My spirits and sprites won't fully recover unless they're in their element."

Pitch continued to eye the young man critically, his expression getting darker the more Jasper came up with excuses to leave.

" _Sit down,_ " Pitch said in what Jack and Lillian recognized as his Adult Voice that meant Serious Business, but to Jasper, it just sounded frightening.

Without realizing what he was doing, Jasper hastily sat back down at his spot on the blanket, looking at Pitch with wide eyes.

Pitch looked sternly at Jasper for all of two seconds before he gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes.

"I am _not_ going to kill you," he said in an equally exasperated tone.

Everyone looked from Pitch to Jasper, who looked surprised.

"I had hoped that even with your minuscule mind you could remember that I am the King of Nightmares," Pitch said, suppressing another eye roll. "I always know what a person's greatest fear is. Yours is that if I don't kill you in the next minute, I'll sneak up on you later on and have you beheaded before you realize what's going on. Then who will look after the precious leaves or your spirits?"

Jasper ducked his head as Bunny glared a bit at Pitch. Now was not the time for mocking!

"Besides, in your haste to make up excuses to leave, you seemed to have forgotten that you are painting pictures for Lillian's book and there seems to be a lack of paintings for summer." Pitch continued as he gave Jasper a look.

Jasper looked particularly embarrassed about that as he remembered promising Lillian he would paint something for summer since August lacked any artistic skill. He glanced over at his painting, wondering what he'd paint for Summer in August's place. He wasn't even sure if August would want to be in the book anymore, not after the fight he'd had with Lillian.

Remembering the fight had once again reminded him of Leif and his shoulders slumped a little. Jack must have noticed that Jasper seemed to be getting sad again because before Jasper knew it, he was getting hit in the face with a snowball.

Jasper sputtered and wiped the snow off his face. He glared at Jack in anger, but then as blue sparkles took over he felt a lightness enter him that he hadn't felt in a long time. A grin overtook his face as his dark brown eyes lit up.

He happily helped himself to another sandwich and after he ate it, he refilled his mug with more milk. He drank that down quickly and wiped off his mouth all with a smile on his face the whole time.

Lillian couldn't help but giggle at that, since the only time she had seen Jasper so happy like that had been when he was painting his Fall picture.

After he had finished eating, Jasper eagerly leapt up as he apparently forgot his earlier fright of Pitch. He had a very Jack-like grin on his face as he declared that they should all finish their paintings. He walked over to his and studied it for a moment.

His eyes were sparkling in a way they hadn't for a very long time as he studied his painting with fresh eyes. He could tell it was very good - for an art gallery. It wasn't a painting that would work for a children's book, however. A child would probably completely dismiss the painting and find it boring.

So Jasper set to work changing the painting a little so that along the road there were several booths and what seemed to be an event of some sort going on. Some children were getting their faces painted while others were happily carving pumpkins. The beautiful fall leaves became more of a background to the event as other fall-type activities were going on.

Some children were even jumping into a pile of leaves. While Jasper hated seeing the leaves fall off the trees and onto the ground, he realized that this too was a part of fall.

Jasper had a big smile on his face while he touched up his painting, and the Guardians all exchanged sad smiles when they realized it was the biggest smile they had ever seen on Jasper - and it was all due to Jack's fun winter magic.

They returned to their own paintings and Bunny returned to painting his eggs once they had all finished eating.

A few hours later everyone had finished and Jasper was finishing up a summer painting worthy of August, a beach scene with a very bright summer sun, complete with beachgoers and even a few surfers. If anyone looked more closely, they could see that several of the beachgoers were actually Summer Spirits and that August was one of the surfers out in the ocean. Regular people were mixed in with the spirits and some children were making a sand castle near the edge of the water.

While Jasper had been painting, his huge smile had dimmed until finally, the usual serious look he sported had taken over. He was so busy concentrating on his painting that he even forgot to spy on Pitch to see what he was up to.

When he was satisfied that his painting was done, he stepped back to look at it more closely. He almost jumped right out of his hoodie when an Australian accent piped up from right behind him.

"Not bad," Bunny said as he had walked up to check out everyone's paintings. "'Specially since Summer ain't yer season."

Jasper shrugged.

"I know what August would like," he said simply. "He'd never want a picture of Summer without surfing."

"Ya have a good eye fer detail," Bunny nodded to himself as he spotted August out in the waves.

"I've had a lot of practice," Jasper replied, referring to all the painting he normally did, as well as painting the fall leaves every year. He was eyeing his painting thoughtfully. "There should be a painting for the front cover or the first page of the book," he added.

Bunny couldn't help but smirk at that.

"You'll be here all night if ya keep this up."

Jasper blushed but decided he could do that painting in secret, to surprise the others with.

"It was just a thought," he protested but didn't say anything else on the subject. He took a look around and saw that he was the last one to finish painting. The others were all gathered around checking out what each other had painted.

Tooth was busy commenting on Jack's painting, while Lillian was checking out North's and seemed to think that tilting her head would help her interpret what it was. North was jovially exclaiming that he had painted everyone in his workshop while Pitch seemed to be standing back and letting everyone have their moment.

Bunny had apparently snuck up behind Jasper to make sure he wasn't all alone, but now that Jasper was finished, Bunny had moved on to join the others.

Jasper took the opportunity to scope out Pitch's painting. Pitch had finished his earlier painting and had painted a new picture. His eyes widened a bit when he saw that this painting was of a house. It was surrounded by plants Jasper had never seen before and a small girl with dark hair seemed to be playing out in the yard. Jasper could see that the girl had black hair and a big smile on her face.

Jasper almost had another heart attack when Pitch spoke from behind him.

"It's my former home," he said a little stiffly.

Jasper nodded and quickly moved away from Pitch's painting to go join his Spirits.

"Are you ok?" Crispin asked as Jasper wandered over.

Jasper nodded.

"Y-yeah," he said a little shakily but managed a small smile for his spirits. He wouldn't admit it, but Pitch still scared him. A lot.

Pitch glanced over at Jasper but didn't call him out on his obvious fear. Apparently, it would take more than a day for Jasper to realize that Pitch wasn't about to behead him. He shook his head to himself but realized that he would probably have threatened Jasper again anyway to find his children.

It wasn't long before everyone was ready to head back to the Pole, and North insisted that this time they all used a snow globe. Everyone all walked through the portal except for Bunny, who had painting supplies to clean up back in the Warren.

While he was gathering everything together, Bunny took a moment to look at everyone's paintings that were still on the easels, sitting there while the paint dried.

He shook his head at North's painting, which North had claimed was abstract, but really was just a big mess of paint. North had also insisted that it was of everyone in his workshop and true, there were some globs of paint that were their colors - gray for Bunny, pink for Lillian, blue-green for Tooth, blue with white on top which must have been Jack in his hoodie, golden yellow for Sandy and finally, black for Pitch.

It took a moment for Bunny to realize the random blobs of white had to have been the yetis. North had been so proud of his painting and Bunny had to smile at that.

He moved on to look at Jack's painting and his grin grew wider. Jack had spent the time after their picnic lunch to work on his painting some more. Who knew the kid was such an artist? Jack had added some more kids into the scene and they all seemed to be having fun in the snow. Bunny, of course, had noticed that all the kids looked like Jamie and his friends and Bunny was unsurprised to see that there was one that was smaller than the rest, with curly brown hair.

He looked over at the painting next to Jack's and saw a typical spring scene with a lot of wildflowers growing everywhere. He saw that Lillian had added Spring Sprites peeking out from behind some of the flowers to give the painting a more playful air.

Next to Lillian's painting was Tooth's, hers a riot of colors, featuring her fairies flitting about within a colorful background. Sandy's was next to Tooth's and it featured a child sleeping with a golden dream floating over their head. He could tell that the child was dreaming about the Guardians since there were golden versions of themselves over the child's head.

Next to Sandy's painting was Jasper's beach scene with his first painting leaning on the ground against the easel. They had all agreed to leave their paintings behind for now and Bunny had promised to take good care of them.

Bunny stepped in front of Pitch's easel next and looked at the painting thoughtfully. He could tell the painting must have had some significance to Pitch, but Bunny didn't exactly know what. He could see the small girl playing in front of the house and he couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance to Mother Nature. Maybe it was a scene from Pitch's past?

Bunny reached down to pick up the other painting that was leaning against the easel and almost dropped it in shock. He stared down at the likeness of the Nightmare Galleon and had to stop his arms from trembling as he put the painting back where it had been.

Bunny's ears went down and his eyes darkened as memories of his long-lost world threatened to take over, images flashing through his mind of the Nightmare Galleon attacking and destroying everything.

* * *

*Just a reminder that Pitch doesn't remember much of his life as Pitch Black, and wouldn't have too many negative feelings associated with the ship. He can remember the ship, but not what he did with it.

Author's Note: Sorry to have the chapter end on such a depressing note. Jasper kind of seemed to take over this entire chapter, so I hope you don't mind that either. Next chapter will feature the last of everyone at North's and then them getting settled at home. Jasper and August will take a backseat to the plot for awhile, as everything settles and then once again spirals out of control. :P


	78. Interlude 17: Meeting Sandy

Author's Note: I don't have a new chapter ready to go yet since I wasn't able to write at all during the week this time. So to tide you guys over for now, here's another interlude! I have to admit I kept getting distracted by this whenever I thought about the plot, so I knew I had to write this one out. Then it seemed mean to just sit on it while I worked on an actual chapter, so here you go. Jack is speaking a bit more formerly still since it was so long ago. I figured Jack probably had a lot of issues when dealing with other spirits since he was ignored for so long. Jack's early life as a spirit is so sad. :( Next Interlude will feature Tooth's fairies and then after that, it will probably be Phil and then Bunny, since I doubt 1968 is when they first met.

Interlude Seventeen: Meeting Sandy

Jack's belief had been at an all time low after that disastrous Christmas. The Guardians had lamented the fact that the blue light had almost gone out but were astonished when it had finally left Antarctica and zoomed off to other continents.

They kept a close eye on it over the years but were saddened that it always remained dim. North had noticed that it always seemed dimmer after Christmas, but there was nothing he could do since he didn't know what child that blue light was. He tried to make Christmas extra _extra_ special for everyone in the hopes that he would accidentally help the blue light too, but he seemed to always miss that child. It was so frustrating!

So it was several years before the blue light changed at all from its usual dim status. Unbeknownst to the Guardians, Jack had decided to keep to himself after that. Especially since his first meetings with spirits had been so awful. After his first winter, he had seen Leif out creating spring flowers.

When Leif had actually acknowledged him, Jack had become so excited that it instantly started snowing. Leif had become enraged that his precious flowers were getting frozen and had chased a stricken Jack away from his field of flowers. Since Jack was so upset from the encounter, Winter had been extra long that year.

On Jack's first Summer, Jack had gotten lost while trying to find somewhere cooler to stay. He was looking around when he spotted August at the same time August had spotted him. August only had to take one look at the white hair and unnaturally pale skin to realize just what Jack was and had started shouting at him right away.

Jack raced off before anything else could happen, but his emotional state still caused it to snow. The people that year had been frightened of all the strange snow they had been getting and was speculating that the world could be ending.

That Fall had been no better since Jack had seen Jasper and had been amazed by him. Jack had kept his distance since he remembered seeing all the other Seasonals and how terrible that had been. But now Jack had found someone who looked almost just like him, and was this guy _painting the leaves_ on trees?

Jack had found himself getting closer and closer to Jasper, and before he knew it he was almost right under the tree Jasper was working on. Jasper himself had no idea he was being watched and had been humming a merry tune while he painted. But when Jack's control of his powers slipped and Jasper felt the first snowflake hit his nose, he blinked and looked around.

A quick look at the sky revealed the darkening clouds and the many snowflakes that were now falling. Jasper's expression darkened when he noticed that a blizzard of epic proportions was starting up and then he spotted a sheepish Jack trying to make a retreat and he lost it.

Jack had fled with Jasper's shouts ringing in his ears. Jack didn't know what Jasper had meant by some of it. What did it mean when Jasper said he was just like Mistral? But Jack had understood the intent. Jasper meant that he was an awful Winter Spirit and he would never be any good at his job. Jack had been rather hurt by the Seasonals and so he vowed to never bother them again.

It took Jack almost thirty years before he dared to try interacting with anyone again. They were some of the loneliest years of Jack's life as a spirit. It had been winter and Jack was sitting on a roof of a house, looking gloomily up at the moon. After that first time when the moon had told him he was Jack Frost, it had never spoken to him again. Jack had sometimes talked to it, first asking and then demanding why he was here if everyone hated him? But the moon never answered him back.

So now Jack sat on the roof, his knees pulled up to his chest as he held his staff in one hand. A light snow had started since this town was due for a snowfall. After Jack had been yelled at by Jasper, he had tried his very best to not make any out of season snow or any heavy snowfall. Even years later, he could still hear Jasper's final cry of "You are nothing but a _murderer!_ " ringing in his ears. So Jack had tried his best to prove Jasper wrong.

He didn't use his winter to kill. He wanted it to be beautiful and fun. Jack watched the light snow fall and sighed to himself. Sometimes he wondered if Winter would be better off without him. He felt the Wind ruffle his hair and whisper soothingly to him and Jack smiled a little at that. The Wind always knew when he was feeling depressed and would try to cheer him up.

At least he had one friend.

Jack's musings about the Wind were cut off, however, when he saw a golden trail of _something_ flying through the sky. Jack had seen these golden tendrils a lot over the years but had never investigated them for fear of having someone else yell at him. Now curiosity was getting the better of him, especially since one flew right over his head. He carefully reached up with his free hand and let his fingers trail through the tendril.

He was startled when the tendril felt dry and grainy, like sand. He was also startled when images burst forth. He saw golden dolphins emerge from the sand and fly around him playfully. Jack couldn't help but smile at that since he had always wanted to see dolphins up close. The weather was just too hot for him by the ocean though, so he never had a chance.

When he stuck his hand into the golden sand a second time, he saw the golden image of two people: one himself and the other that looked exactly like him. The smile slipped off Jack's face when he recognized it as Jasper. Instead of yelling at him though, Jasper was patting Jack on the back and the two appeared to be talking.

Jack let his hand drop back down with a sad sigh. He knew that would never happen. He glanced back up at the golden tendril though and couldn't resist touching it once more, curious as to what the other images would be.

This time, it showed a golden Jack all by himself, with his hair being blown about by the wind, a large smile on his face. Jack instantly knew that the golden Jack was listening to the Wind. Wind was probably telling him where to spread snow or else telling him that some day he would find a friend. Wind was always telling him that, especially when he was sad.

Meanwhile Sandy was floating on his golden cloud, watching with satisfaction as the golden streams of dreamsand went from house to house, spreading good dreams to all the children. However, he could feel something was off with one of the streams. He frowned a little as he could feel something was messing with his dreamsand. That was odd since that had never happened before.

Curious about this new development, Sandy quickly located which stream was being messed with and followed it towards where the disturbance was. Sandy was startled to see a boy sitting on a rooftop. He was wearing a brown cloak and brown pants with no shoes on his feet. Sandy was concerned until he spotted the mop of white hair and the unnatural paleness of Jack's skin.

Sandy realized that he must be a spirit. He watched the boy as the boy was looking at the images in the dreamsand, a smile on his face.

Sandy carefully flew closer on his cloud and waved cheerfully at the spirit. The spirit, however, didn't catch Sandy's friendly smile and flinched when he spotted the little golden man.

"I-I am so sorry!" Jack said hastily when he spotted Sandy. He clutched his staff to himself with wide eyes. "I just wanted to.. I did not mean.. I.." he trailed off, at a loss on what to say.

Sandy saw how flustered this spirit was getting and quickly waved his hands reassuringly before giving Jack a big smile.

Jack continued to clutch his staff to himself as he looked at Sandy uncertainly. He had never had anyone smile at him before. Wasn't this when the yelling was supposed to start? Why wasn't this little man yelling at him for messing with his golden sand?

Sandy for his part, just continued to sit there as he floated silently on his cloud. His smile had turned a little sad at Jack's uncertainty. He waited until Jack had finally relaxed from his tense posture and stopped clutching his staff tightly to himself.

Finally, Jack couldn't take the continued silence and decided to talk to the strange little golden man.

"Who are you?" Jack asked him, his voice soft. He felt the Wind ruffle his hair comfortingly and relaxed a little more. Wind always warned him when he was near anyone unfriendly.

Sandy's smile grew and a golden image of a beach appeared over his head followed by the golden image of a man. It was what Sandy always used to describe himself.

Jack tilted his head as he stared at the two images floating over Sandy's head. Why didn't he just tell Jack? Jack stared at the golden beach and then at the golden man.

"Sand.. man..?" Jack said, half question and half statement.

Sandy nodded enthusiastically and clapped his hands. Normally people didn't get that on the first try. This spirit must be very smart!

"I do not know what that is," Jack said with a sad sigh.

After that horrible first year and that terrible Christmas, Jack had kept his distance from everyone. He no longer eavesdropped on the children or engaged them in snowball fights. He spread his snow from a distance and told himself it was better that way. At least this way he wouldn't get hurt.

Sandy paused as he tried to think of a way to describe what he did, but then he smiled again and beckoned Jack to follow him. Jack didn't really want to follow after this strange little golden man, but the little man had flown off.

Jack stood on the roof, debating on whether or not to follow when the golden man came back and gestured at Jack to follow again. The Wind gave him a little nudge as well and Jack reluctantly asked the Wind to help him follow the man. If Wind thought he should do it, then he might as well.

Jack followed after Sandy reluctantly and was surprised when Sandy stopped right outside a window. Sandy pointed at the window and Jack peered in, kept aloft by the wind as he floated there in midair. He could see that there was a child in that room, still awake for some reason. Jack blinked when Sandy sent in a golden tendril of dreamsand. The tendril had to take a detour through the chimney since the window wasn't open, but Jack saw the tendril sneak under the crack in the door and fly to the child. The child had stared at the sand in amazement for all of one second before he was knocked out by the dreamsand.

A golden dream played over the child's head and the child smiled in his sleep. Jack watched all this with wide eyes and stared at the golden images playing over the child's head. The child was dreaming of playing with other children, from the looks of the golden images playing over the child's head.

"You give dreams to children," Jack said as it came to him. "Good dreams?"

Sandy nodded enthusiastically and reached out to pat Jack's shoulder, but paused when Jack suddenly flinched away from the touch. Jack was unused to such things since he had never been touched by another spirit before.

Sandy let his hand drop down as he looked at Jack consideringly. Jack looked so young to be a spirit! And judging from Jack's clothes, he hadn't been a spirit for very long. What Jack was wearing still seemed to match the current dress for the most part.

A golden image of a house followed by a golden question mark appeared over Sandy's head.

"My.. my home?" Jack guessed, making sure to not float so closely to Sandy.

Sandy nodded at that and Jack nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"I do not have a house," Jack explained. "I have a lake that calls to me, and I like to stay there sometimes."

He stopped suddenly, as if suddenly uncertain about revealing so much of himself to this strange person. Sandy was the first person he had met that didn't yell at him. He didn't understand why Sandy wasn't shouting yet. But he hadn't heard Sandy make a single sound, and that made Jack wonder if the golden little man could even talk. It seemed rude to ask, however, so Jack didn't.

Sandy looked a little sad when he heard that Jack had no home. Didn't all the Seasonals have their own place they stayed at? Sandy had guessed that Jack was the new Winter Seasonal he had heard whispers and rumors about over the years. The consensus at first had been that this new Seasonal was just like Mistral, the former Spirit of Winter, but Sandy had yet to encounter any of the harsh Winters that Mistral had made, and that made Sandy wonder if the others weren't judging this new Seasonal too harshly.

Jack fidgeted and then the urge to flee overtook him. It was nice talking to someone that could see him, but at the same time, it was so unnerving that he was feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.

"It was nice to meet you," Jack said, as he started to float up a bit with help from the Wind. "But I must spread Winter elsewhere now."

Sandy belatedly held out a hand as if to call out to Jack to wait, but Jack had already flown off. Sandy watched Jack's retreating form and a determined look crossed Sandy's face. He would make certain that at least there would be one person who would be nice to this new spirit. His shoulders slumped, however, when he realized he hadn't even gotten this new spirit's name.

* * *

Over the next few years, Sandy had met Jack off and on in various countries around the world. Sandy always made a point of seeking Jack out if it was winter in that country and Jack had slowly grown accustomed to the golden man's attention.

Jack now no longer flinched if Sandy patted his arm in a friendly manner and Jack no longer fled after a few minutes of conversation. Sandy considered Jack's progress to be a good one and Sandy couldn't help but wonder what had happened in Jack's early life as a spirit to make him so uncomfortable with conversations in general.

Sandy smiled as Jack sat perched on the golden cloud that Sandy had expanded just for Jack. Jack was happily chatting away with all traces of shyness gone. It had been five years since the Sandman had met the Winter Spirit.

"You should have seen the look on his face!" Jack said with a chuckle. "I threw a snowball right at him and he was _certain_ that it had been his sister, even though she was behind him and he had been hit in the front. He had been upset at first, but then I used my trick to help him have more fun."

Sandy cocked his head and a golden question mark appeared over his head.

"Oh, I have a power I discovered a few years ago," Jack said nonchalantly. "If I concentrate and blow on a snowball to perfect it, I can put some of my power into it. When it strikes a person, it makes them happy, no matter what their mood was before. I use it to help the children enjoy their games more."

Sandy gave Jack a big grin at that and Jack grinned right back at him. The Wind ruffled Jack's hair affectionately and Jack was happy to have two good friends. What more could he want?

Jack was soon distracted a moment later when he spotted the little hummingbird flying past him and into a house. The hummingbird was only a moment, but when Jack saw it leaving, he thought he saw it carrying a tooth.

Jack glanced at Sandy, the question already on the tip of his tongue.

"What was that?"

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry if you guys aren't interested in these Interludes right now, but I can't help what my muse gets distracted by. The next actual chapter will start off with August, since I haven't forgotten about him or Mother Nature. Then we will get everyone settled back at home and if the chapter isn't too long yet, I miiight give you a little plot thrown in. Otherwise, that plot will happen in the chapter after next. If you guys have any plot suggestions, now is the time to go ahead since after that things will be rolling along.


	79. Chapter Sixy-Two: Summer's Apology

Author's Note: Thanks to Crossover Junkie and Silversun XD for their most recent reviews. :) And Silversun XD, that is _hilarious._ I am SO including that at some point. Grandpa Pitch! Oh man, I can just see it now. I also like your idea, Crossover Junkie, on how to help out Jasper. I forgot about it when I was writing this, and I seriously just want to jump ahead to PLOT after all this time, but yeah. I'll have to include that too, once things settle down more. I meant to have more going on in the settling down, but I'm just as eager as everyone else to get back to the action.

To answer SnowCatt's question, I honestly didn't think of it. I'm sure the writers forgot all about it too. Plus it's way more dramatic to have Jamie be the last light. Or in this case, have Jamie and two blue lights. :P

This chapter isn't as long as previous chapters, but I had to end it there. Sorry! But I am for sure starting on the next chapter right away so I'll definitely have it posted if not tomorrow, then on the weekend.

Now on with the story!

Chapter Sixy-Two: Summer's Apology

Mother Nature waited until she was certain that everyone had left before she carefully got out of bed. She was feeling much better than she had before and thought she'd be able to recover just fine in her own palace now, but Pitch had been insistent that when they did leave the North Pole, that she come to his place for a few days at least.

She had agreed, but only to put Pitch's mind at ease. She knew that he was making up for their lost years and the thought of being mothered by her father had been a little appealing. It would be nice to have someone to take care of her for a change.

She was wearing an old fashioned nightgown and made sure to slip on a robe and slippers before she left her room. Normally she might have gotten dressed to speak with August, but she didn't want to chance seeing a yeti and having it freak out on her for doing too much. At least this way she can claim to have been bored and wanted to stretch her legs. If she were dressed, the yeti might assume she was sneaking off to her palace. She didn't need a yeti to panic and go fetch Pitch.

She made her way down the hall and to where she could feel the summer heat pouring out of a room. She knew that the North Pole was no place for the Summer Spirits and Sprites and August had made their room extra warm to compensate for it.

She knocked gently on the door before opening it and walking in. August was sitting on the bed moodily while his Spirits and Sprites were all hanging around on the other side of the room, away from their very angry Seasonal.

Mother Nature took in August's slumped posture and walked over by the bed. She perched on the edge of it near him.

"August, my child," she said softly to him. "I heard you shouting earlier. What's wrong?"

August snorted. What was wrong? Only everything.

"That baby Spring Spirit doesn't care at all about spring," he muttered angrily. "She doesn't care as much as Leif. She thinks we'll all be _friends_. Why would I want to be friends with a brat like her?"

The Summer Spirits exchanged sad looks at that. There had been a time when they had all gotten along. Leif hadn't just been friends with August. All the Summer Spirits and Sprites had been good friends with the Spring and Fall ones. Since they had lost Leif and the Spring Spirits and Sprites had disappeared, everyone had drifted apart.

"That 'baby Spring Spirit' as you put it, is still very much a child," Mother Nature admonished gently. "She is very new for a Spirit. Her good friend is Jack Frost, who is like a child himself. You are much older than either of them.. Perhaps she doesn't know how to relate to spirits older than her?"

August grumbled to himself at that.

"You scolded her at the meeting," August said petulantly. "And you had words with her _and_ Jack afterward."

Mother Nature flinched at August's words, but August was too busy being disagreeable to notice.

"My actions have nothing to do with yours," she said, her voice coming out more sharply than she meant to.

August looked over at her in surprise, since it was unusual for Mother Nature to speak like that to the Seasonals.

"Whether you like it or not, she is your seasonal sibling, as is Jack Frost. I will not force you to be friends, but you need to treat them with respect. I expect you to apologize."

Her stern tone left no room for arguments, so August didn't make any. He looked away from Mother Nature and gave a mumbled response that could have been an agreement.

Mother Nature's look softened and she patted August on the knee.

"I know you're upset still over the loss of Leif. But I expect you to cease arguing with Lillian."

August didn't say anything to that, and Mother Nature sighed and stood from August's bed.

"You will apologize when they come back," she told August. Then she turned to the other Spirits and Sprites. "And you will see that he does so."

Their eyes widened at the thought of making August apologize and from the darkened look on August's face, he didn't think too much of it either.

When Mother Nature left the room, August found some paper and a pen.

"August..? What are you doing?" Marin hesitantly asked him.

"She never said I had to apologize in person," August said with a smirk. "Besides, I want to get out of here. I'm done with freezing and I feel fine."

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Jasper?" another Spirit piped up.

August paused in his writing and then shook his head.

"Nah, he'll understand. Besides, I've seen him every day. Much more than usual. He won't miss me."

The Spirits exchanged a look at that but didn't contradict their Seasonal.

"You.. you are writing something nice, right?" Marin asked as she came over to see.

August finished his note with a flourish and had it folded before she could get a proper look.

"Of course!" August said in a tone that no one believed. "Let me put this note in her room and then we can get out of here. I'll take you guys home and then I'll go check out California myself."

* * *

Much later, Lillian, Jasper and the Guardians (minus Bunny) all returned back to the North Pole. Lillian was in much better spirits and was chatting away happily at Jasper.

"So I have to know _all_ about you for my book! Likes dislikes.. Um." she paused trying to think of more. "If you have a girlfriend!"

"Wh-what?!" Jasper spluttered, his face getting red.

"Or - " Lillian started to continue but was cut off by Pitch.

"Or you could go back to bed and rest after this long day." Pitch cut off Lillian with a smirk in Jasper's direction.

Jasper took that opportunity to escape.

"I think I'll just go see how August is!" he said in a rush and practically ran away.

He didn't mind answering Lillian's somewhat invasive questions, but he didn't want to admit the truth to her about relationships. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in such things, but the truth was that he was practically married to his painting. And he was much too busy with his Seasonal work to get a girlfriend.

All thoughts of his non-existent relationships left his mind as he knocked and then opened the door to August's room. He was very disappointed to find a stack of borrowed clothing neatly folded on the bed, and nothing else. Disappointed, but not surprised. He had already guessed that August would leave when everyone else was away.

With a sigh, Jasper left the room and trudged off to his own. He opened up the door and entered the room, all happiness at painting having vanished.

"What's wrong?" Laurel asked as she looked over at Jasper. She was seated on the bed with Kale and Crispin and they appeared to have been talking about the events of the day before Jasper came in, as they had gone off to their room after Jasper had run away.

"August left," Jasper said as he plopped down on the bed by his Spirits.

"He.. he left?" Kale said blankly.

Jasper nodded and Crispin frowned.

"He didn't even say goodbye!" Crispin said indignantly. "I thought you were friends!"

Jasper winced and didn't notice as Laurel smacked Crispin in the back of the head.

"You've all been away for a very, very long time," Jasper said as he looked down, tracing a pattern in the comforter with his finger. "August and I aren't as close as we used to be.. Until we had all these weather problems, I only saw him maybe once a year. And that was only so he could ask me to let Summer go on a little longer."

"He hardly sees you and then asks you for favors?" Laurel said, her voice tinged with hurt and outrage. Before she had been kidnapped with her other fellow Sprites, August and Jasper had been like brothers. Now it seemed that they were more acquaintances than anything.

Jasper shrugged, but his downcast expression gave him away. He thought August would at least say goodbye.

"Well.. Well.. who needs him anyway!" Laurel declared. "We don't need anyone. We have each other and that's good enough."

Crispin and Kale nodded in agreement, but Jasper continued to look gloomy.

* * *

The next day, Mother Nature sought out Lillian in her room before Pitch could bring them all breakfast in bed. Honestly, this was getting a little ridiculous. They were all very much recovered, but there was no stopping Pitch. Secretly she was hoping the Guardians might step in to calm Pitch's mothering a little.

Lillian was already awake and staring at a piece of paper with an incredulous look on her face. She looked up as Mother Nature entered her room and sat down on the bed by her.

"Is something wrong, child?" Mother Nature asked her in a gentle voice.

Lillian wordlessly held out the paper to Mother Nature and she quickly scanned the paper, a frown appearing on her face. By the time she had finished reading, her look was thunderous and there was a loud crackle of lightning coming from outside.

 _Kid,_ the note read, _I don't hate you. But I don't like you either. I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. - August._

 _P.S. Don't bother me about that book. Just ask Jasper._

"I asked him to apologize!" Mother Nature said, her tone as dark as her mood as she crumpled the note in her hands. "That August Bay! Don't worry, I'll see to it that he apologizes _properly._ "

"It's ok," Lillian interjected quickly. "He'll just hate me more if you do it. He'll think I asked you to."

Mother Nature sighed but relented.

"I wish for all my children to get along, but I doubt I will ever see it."

"I don't ever see them much anyway," Lillian said.

She didn't like August much anyway, so his note hadn't hurt as much as Mother Nature thought it did. As far as she was concerned, August was a stuck-up snob and he could stick Summer where the sun didn't shine!

She had to stifle a giggle at that thought and refused to tell Mother Nature what she had found so amusing.

And that was how Pitch found them when he came in with Lillian's breakfast tray. He looked surprised for a moment, but then smoothly continued on without mentioning Mother Nature being out of bed. He told them that they should be able to go back home in a few days.

Lillian started to complain since as far as she was concerned, she wanted to go home _now,_ but Pitch had explained that he still had to clean the place up a bit.

And by cleaning, he meant thoroughly checking everywhere for Nightmares, not that he would tell anyone that.

So it was two days later that everyone left the North Pole. Surprisingly, Jasper and the rest of the Fall crew were the last to leave.

"..Thanks," Jasper said awkwardly to North as the rest of the Guardians (minus Pitch and Jack) were in the globe room.

"Is no problem!" North said as he waved a hand dismissively. "You have trouble again, you come find us. We like to help friends of Jack and Lillian."

Jasper thought 'friend' was too strong of a word, but he didn't contradict North. Instead, he just nodded.

"Are you going to visit August?" Tooth asked him kindly.

Jasper looked more awkward still and avoided Tooth's gaze.

"No, I.. uh.. I should get back to my forest." Jasper said as he put his hands in his hoodie pocket. "I'm sure my spirits and sprites are eager to get back."

Eager was an understatement since said spirits and sprites were all sporting huge smiles and practically vibrating with excitement.

"Oh," Tooth said looking disappointed for a moment. She thought Jasper and August could have taken the opportunity to become close friends again. But then she perked up. "You can always come back for a visit."

Jasper gave the Guardians a weird look, since why would he do that?

"I'll be too busy once Fall rolls around," he said as he ignored Sandy's stern finger waving in his direction and a golden picture of a bed over Sandy's head. He didn't have time for sleep when it was Fall.

"But thanks for the offer," he added.

He glanced back at his spirits and sprites.

"You guys ready to go?"

They all nodded eagerly and Jasper smiled. He felt like he hadn't been home in ages.

The Guardians all watched as all the Fall Spirits gathered up the Sprites and then they all disappeared in a swirl of fall leaves.

"I feel like we didn't help him very much," Tooth said with a sigh. It looked like Jasper was still going to be lonely in his forest.

"Lillian's still gotta get information from him for her book," Bunny said reasonably. "The sheila'll visit with Jack. He'll be fine."

The others all smiled at that thought, and then Tooth and Sandy turned to get ready for work.

* * *

Pitch had gotten Mother Nature settled into yet another of his guest rooms that were near his own. He had already gone down to his lair and cleared away any trace of the Nightmares, sweeping up the black sand left behind and locking it away in a dark room at the back of the lair. He hadn't seen any more Nightmares and hoped to keep it that way.

Lillian was sitting on her bed in her room, holding a book and leaning back against her pillows. She smiled as she read. She had missed this.

Jack meanwhile, was in his own room making it frosty cold with his winter magic. The various Winter Sprites and Spirits along with the Spring ones weren't there. They had already said their goodbyes and went on to their own homes with the promise from Jack and Lillian to come visit sometime.

The next day, Mother Nature sat at the rock table with Lillian, Jack, and Pitch as they all ate breakfast. Pitch had a cup of tea for himself and so did Jack. Lillian had a glass of milk and was eating her eggs quickly.

"Lillian, slow down," Pitch said calmly, as though he had said this many, many times.

"Can't, I gotta do Spring stuff before August takes over!" Lillian said in a rush with her mouth full.

Jack laughed and wrinkled his nose.

"You'll have plenty of time. It is not even June," Mother Nature said reasonably as she took a drink of her tea. "Besides, the weather should be perfectly fine now that you have all fixed it."

Lillian paused in shoveling her food in and looked thoughtful at that. She nodded and began to eat a little more slowly.

When she was finished, she stood up.

"Gotta go!" she exclaimed.

She was about to disappear with her Giant Flower when she looked like she remembered something. She ran over to Pitch and beckoned him to lean down. When he did so, she leaned up on her tip-toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Pitch looked touched and ruffled her curls.

"Stay safe," he told her.

Lillian nodded and then ran around the table to give Jack a hug goodbye.

"Don't drive Pitch crazy!" she said with a cheeky grin at him. Jack gave her a cheeky grin back and Pitch groaned in the background.

* * *

Meanwhile, Father Time was looking at his hour glasses again, trying to figure out who could have taken the silver one that was missing. The different colors of the hour glasses meant that they all functioned differently, as Father Time had spent quite a bit of time perfecting his method of travel. There were some hour glasses that only moved back an hour at a time; some that went back years at a time; some that went back a mere half hour.

The silver ones only went back two years at once and that made him look at them with a puzzled frown. Had something significant happened two years ago? He didn't think so..

What could it be?

With a sigh he began to pace around the room, thinking.. Thinking..

He stopped in his tracks and frowned at the remaining silver hour glasses. It couldn't have been _her_ could it?

No..

She wouldn't dare.

And yet.. It seemed like something she would do. She had always been curious about his excursions to the past, but he wouldn't let her go with. It was far too dangerous, and nothing must meddle with the past. He was only an observer, after all, and she had been far too young to understand that.

Now, however..

Father Time shook his head. No, she was grown up now. She would never do something so foolhardy. He abruptly exited this room and went to his Room of Possibilities. He studied the mirrors, hoping for a clue as to what happened.

He gasped when he spotted the mirror further down the wall from what had just transpired not too long ago with Mother Nature being frozen. He watched a particular mirror as none other than Gethen was turning an hour glass in his hands with an evil grin on his face.

Of course!

Then Father Time took in what Gethen was doing and his eyes widened.

 _Oh no.  
_

Gethen wasn't doing what he thought he was doing, was he?!

Gethen couldn't.. He wouldn't dare!

Father Time watched with horror dawning on his face as Gethen seemed to vanish before his eyes.

The hour glass Gethen had held in his hands was silver. In fact, it was the very hour glass that Father Time had been agonizing over.

Now Father Time knew why that Bennett boy would be coming soon.

Gethen was changing the past.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry, _sorry_ for stopping there but the next chapter will finally reveal just what Gethen has up his sleeve and just why there is going to be a Ms. Parker and what's going on with that. I meant to have more going on at home with Pitch, Mother Nature, Jack, and Lillian, but I was too eager for Lillian to leave and go spread Spring some more (and jumpstart the plot). I might show a snippet with Mother Nature at home, or else it will have to wait until this current plot is done with.

For those of you curious on who the "she" is that Father Time is talking about, this person hasn't yet appeared in the fic. It's just a hint to a character that may or may not be showing up in the future. You get bonus points if you figure out who it is! She isn't a character in the movie either.

The next chapter will jump straight into the plot and I will post it very soon, promise.

Oh, and for those of you disappointed in August. Yes, he should have apologized in person. Or at least said goodbye to Jasper. But he tends to take Jasper for granted quite a bit and August doesn't seem to have the loneliness problems that Jasper has. I figure the relationship with August and Lillian will eventually be like a brother-sister relationship, but on the more antagonistic side. Since Mother Nature was essentially forcing August to apologize, of course he'd just do it in the most insincere way possible, like a sibling would. I'm hoping to explore the Seasonals being more like actual siblings later on.


	80. Chapter Sixty-Three: 1968 Again

Author's Note: Here is the long awaited chapter of when things start to get more interesting again. Will Jamie be able to be the hero that everyone needs? Can he do this?! Well, we'll see, won't we. :P

Crossover Junkie, I knew that Death had a daughter, but I hadn't read far enough into the series to see he had a granddaughter as well. That's really interesting! I'm also not sure how I made you like Death more since I didn't have him do much of anything. I think with Jamie's adventures coming up, I'll have to make him have a reappearance though. Muwhaha.

I'd like to give a special thanks to all the follows and faves! I hope all you silent readers out there like where the story is going. Anyway, on with the chapter!

Chapter Sixty-Three: 1968 Again

 _Current time: Present_

Gethen smiled evilly to himself as he looked down at the silver hour glass he had stolen from Father Time. This plan was perfect! Why didn't he think of it sooner? It hadn't been difficult to locate Father Time's home. A lot of the spirits knew where the others lived, but some like Father Time preferred their solitude.

He had already experimented a little with the hour glass and knew it went back into the past two years. It was fairly inconvenient for what he wanted to do, but he knew if he counted properly, he could achieve his goal. He really would have preferred to go steal one that went farther back, but he couldn't risk getting caught. Father Time was old, but he wasn't senile. He would catch on pretty quick and Gethen had to hurry with his plan if he wanted to succeed.

So with that thought in mind, he began to turn the hour glass backward, carefully counting each turn. His grin grew wider the more he turned the hour glass.

Oh, Child of Spring..

How you would regret crossing the spirit of decay.

With the final turn of the hour glass, Gethen felt time begin to unravel, and then rewind.

* * *

 _Current time: 1968_

A small girl in a ragged pink dress went outside, exiting from a dilapidated house. Her face was downcast from having been yelled at by her father to get out of the house. He threw her out so fast, she didn't even have time to grab her jacket. Fortunately for her, the weather was pretty nice today and the sun was shining brightly.

She walked to a park that she knew of, that had some woods not too far away from it. It was a little farther from her house than her mother ever let her go, but that wouldn't be a problem anymore.

Little Lillian's face fell more and she rubbed her eyes furiously to stave off the tears as she thought about the reason why it wouldn't be a problem anymore. She noticed kids were all over holding Easter baskets and looking down at the ground excitedly. Her gray eyes lit up and a smile grew on her face as she realized that today was Easter!

Nobody paid the six year old any mind as she joined in with the others that were searching for eggs. It was as she was searching everywhere, that the snow started. Kids looked up in wonder at the white flakes and some even tried to catch them on their tongue.

Lillian held out her tongue and giggled when she felt cold snowflakes fall onto it. She twirled around happily for a moment before continuing her search. She was so excited about Easter that she didn't even notice the temperature, once a fine one for a spring day, was now getting much colder.

She spotted a splash of color by a bush and raced over to it. She bent down and picked up an egg that had a beautiful spring scene painted on it. She smiled happily at the egg and tucked it into her pocket.

She looked around to see where else she could look for eggs, when she spotted the forest. Would the Easter Bunny hide any eggs in there?

She quietly walked over to the forest and wandered inside. She glanced back to make sure she wasn't being followed since she didn't want anyone finding these eggs but her. A little ways in she spotted another egg and eagerly ran over to it. She picked it up to see that it had a picture of a basket of eggs on it and giggled.

The Easter Bunny was so silly!

She tucked the egg into her other pocket and went to continue on, not even noticing that the snow had grown much heavier and the temperature had dropped much more. Her fingers were starting to turn red from the cold.

Her breath was visible as her feet crunched in the snow. She managed to take two steps further into the forest when she heard the snap of a twig. She started in surprise and whirled around, but no one else was there. She realized suddenly how very quiet it was in this forest and how dark the way ahead seemed to be.

Hesitantly, she called out.

"H-Hello? Is anyone there?"

Her voice was a little raspy from disuse since she hardly spoke at all anymore. Her father didn't seem to notice that his daughter had gone very silent, and if she even dared to make any noise at all he yelled at her to be quiet.

"Hello?" she called out again, her voice quivering.

Her eyes widened when she heard a howl. It was the sort of howl that made her think of dangerous animals with sharp teeth.

It was the sort of howl that reminded her of scary things.

She took one step backward and then another. When another howl followed the first, Lillian turned around and ran away.

Since she wasn't very deep into the forest, she was able to find the way out rather easily. As she was busy running right back towards home, she never heard the malicious laughter that echoed in the woods.

* * *

 _Current time: Present_

Lillian had made her way to Burgess and happily wandered around as she spread her spring flowers wherever she walked. She smiled happily at the normal temperatures and looked pleased with everything that was happening. Spring seemed to finally be back to normal.

It sure took long enough!

Lillian wondered if Jamie would be in school yet as she started to make her way over to his house. She was thinking if he wasn't home that she would "borrow" some of his books to read when she suddenly gasped and stopped in her tracks.

She clutched her stomach with a pained look on her face. She felt really weird for some reason.

With a groan, she clutched her stomach more tightly and looked worriedly down at it. What was wrong with her?

Her eyes widened when she saw her arms.

Where they _transparent?!_

Was she fading?!

No.. it couldn't be!

"No.. No..!" she cried out as more of her became transparent. "Pitch..!"

With a sob, she tried to use her powers or even just move, but it hurt too much to do anything. She realized that when she tried to use her powers, nothing had happened.

She tried calling out for help, but her voice was getting weaker now. She wished that someone, _anyone_ would come save her, but no one showed up.

A few minutes later, there was heart-wrenching agonized scream as the Child of Spring was no more.

* * *

 _Current time: Present_

"Jamie, hurry up! Your breakfast is getting cold and you need to get to school!" Jamie's mom called up the stairs as her son groggily opened his eyes.

He rubbed them and got out of bed, quickly changing into his clothes for school. He yawned as he glanced over at his computer, remembering that day when he had been looking up the weird weather on his computer and Lillian had found that letter. The weird one that had freaked her out.

Jamie shivered as he thought about it. Every day since he had gotten that letter, he kept expecting to see a Ms. Parker as his English teacher, but thankfully that hadn't happened yet. He hoped that it never would either.

Wearing his usual t-shirt and jeans, Jamie made sure he had his backpack all packed and deposited it on the couch when he went downstairs. He hurried to the kitchen table and began to scarf down his breakfast of eggs and toast.

"Whoa, slow down there mister!" Jamie's mom said with a shake of her head. "You don't want to choke."

Jamie quickly swallowed his mouthful.

"Can't!" he said in a rush. "I'm gonna be late if I don't hurry."

With that, he hurriedly ate the rest of his breakfast and drank down the rest of his milk. He charged back upstairs to the bathroom and brushed his teeth in record time and made sure he didn't have a milk mustache before racing back downstairs.

"Bye!" Jamie called out as he grabbed his backpack and hurried out the door. He had to hurry if he was going to meet up with his friends to walk to school.

Sure enough, he saw Pippa talking with Cupcake and he hurried over to the girls to greet them. Not long after, they had gone around to Caleb and Claude's and Monty's house.

Now the whole gang was walking to school while Jamie was busy talking about his book again. He paused, however, when they passed a park that was near Jack's forest. He could see there was a trail of spring flowers leading away from it and then they just stopped.

"Hey," he said as he stopped walking and gestured at them. "Check that out," he said as he pointed.

The kids all stopped to look too and didn't look very impressed.

"What?" Pippa asked. "Those flowers?"

"Yeah," Jamie nodded. "You think Lillian did it?"

"Who?" Monty piped up.

"Uh.. you know. Lillian? Spring spirit?" Jamie said, looking at his friends incredulously.

"What?" Pippa began to laugh. "Jamie, there's no such thing!"

Jamie began to look upset. What were they playing at? But he didn't have time to dwell on it as Caleb exclaimed that they were going to be late to school. As they all hurried away, Jamie didn't notice that the spring flowers faded and then disappeared altogether, as though they had never been there.

"Man, we can't be late to English!" Claude exclaimed. "Ms. Parker said we had a test today!"

Jamie stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wh-what?" he said breathlessly. "What about Mr. Plum?"

"Who?" Pippa gave Jamie an impatient look. "We've always had Ms. Parker! C'mon Jamie, we're going to be late."

Jamie's eyes widened as his friends hurried off without him, assuming he was right behind them. He could clearly remember all those boring classes with Mr. Plum, but he could feel other memories trying to take over as well.

He grabbed his head as the two sets of memories clashed, and one set started to take over. The look of pain on his face started to fade as he straightened up.

That's right, he'd always had Ms. Parker -

Before the thoughts could firmly take hold, however, Jamie could feel something grab him from behind and then in a whirl of _something_ , Jamie disappeared.

* * *

 _Current time: ?  
_

Jamie staggered as he reappeared somewhere. The trip had seemed somehow _magical,_ and Jamie stared after he shook his head and tried to get oriented. The room he was in was filled with clocks.

Lots and lots of clocks.

All different kinds of clocks.

There were old fashioned cuckoo clocks and a big grandfather clock. Some clocks looked so old fashioned it was like they came right out of the past, and then some looked more modern. Jamie swore he saw one clock that even had a hologram in it, but that was impossible.. right?

As Jamie stared at all the clocks a crazy thought entered his mind.

It wasn't possible.. was it?

But this was Jamie Bennett, the boy who believed in just about anything, and especially with everything that had happened to him, of course, he would believe.

As soon as he recalled all the strange adventures he'd had, he winced as though something else was trying to intrude. He held his head again as it started to feel a little like it was going to explode.

This was _so_ not good.

"I almost forgot!" a voice behind Jamie exclaimed.

Jamie gave a startled gasp and whirled around to see an old man right behind him. Before Jamie could say anything, the old man slipped something over Jamie's head and the pressure Jamie had been feeling eased. The strange memories that kept trying to intrude suddenly vanished and Jamie felt his regular memories slip firmly back into place.

There was a Lillian.

There was a Mr. Plum.

There was definitely _not_ a Ms. Parker.

Jamie sighed in relief.

"Thanks," Jamie said as he fingered the necklace that the old man had put over his head. There was a pendant of some sort that was dangling from it, but Jamie couldn't see what it was.

The old man smiled in return at Jamie.

"I knew you would eventually believe in me," the old man said happily. "That necklace will protect you from the changing timestream. Unfortunately, someone has been meddling with the past. I feared I was almost too late. Your memories almost vanished as they were adjusting to the changes that had been made in the past."

Jamie's eyes widened.

"I.. I almost lost my memories?" he squeaked.

Father Time patted Jamie's shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry, I managed to catch you just in time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get your friends. It seems as if you're the only one with memories of your original time, Jamie Bennett."

"..Wh.. wh.." Jamie said, going pale as he stared at Father Time in shock. Even if Jamie did believe in just about everything, it was still horrifying to hear that he almost lost all his memories. Not to mention that no matter how grown up Jamie might act, he was still just a little boy.

"As you might have guessed, I am Father Time," Father Time continued, as he either ignored or didn't notice Jamie's slight panic attack. "And you are the only person who can save your time period."

Jamie shook his head as he took a deep breath and then another. He tried to calm down, but his heart was racing and it suddenly felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in the room.

"F-Father Time? Wait.. someone changed the _past?!_ " Jamie exclaimed as he tried to get his bearings back.

Father Time nodded gravely.

"It is notoriously difficult to change the past, as even if you do so, other events might occur to make the event you were trying to change happen anyway. Unfortunately, Gethen seems to have chosen just the event that could have catastrophic effects on your time."

As Father Time spoke, he lead Jamie off to his Room of Possibilities.

"Whoa," Jamie said breathlessly as he stared at all the hundreds and hundreds of mirrors that were on the wall. It made him a little dizzy since all the mirrors were showing not reflections, but events that either had or would take place. "What is all this?"

"This," Father Time said proudly, "is my Room of Possibilities. It shows events that could or have or are taking place right now. Unfortunately, many of the mirrors that show the past aren't reflecting their proper events."

Father Time frowned as he glanced at a particular mirror that showed all the Guardians facing off against Pitch, Jack included. It was not supposed to have happened that way!

He looked away from that particular mirror and then guided Jamie further down to where he gestured at a mirror.

"This is Gethen Grendel," Father Time pointed to the mirror where Gethen was turning the hour glass. "That hour glass he is holding is a device of mine that I used to use to travel to other times, before I made this room. It seems he has gone somewhere into the past, but I don't know the precise time he has gone to."

Jamie frowned in concentration as he thought of that letter. Hadn't it mentioned a specific time..? His eyes lit up as it suddenly came to him.

"1968!" Jamie exclaimed. "I got a letter that said when I have Ms. Parker as my English teacher, I should aim for Easter Sunday, 1968! I had no idea what it meant, but the person must have known that's where this Gethen guy went!"

Father Time looked thoughtful.

"Easter Sunday, hm? Something significant must have happened that day."

Father Time glanced at his mirrors and then frowned in frustration.

"My mirrors won't be able to show me the event, since Gethen has already changed what it was. Did that letter say anything else?"

Jamie nodded.

"It said I should appear by the woods near Jack Frost's lake and I shouldn't let Gethen see me. How am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to be doing if I don't even know what he changed?"

"Hmm," Father Time started pacing back and forth in front of his mirrors. "Something must have happened at that place in that time that Gethen has changed. My mirrors might give us some clues though."

Father Time stopped pacing as he examined his mirrors.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute! Is that.. is that _me?!_ " Jamie exclaimed as he pointed to a set of mirrors after the one that had Gethen going back into the past.

Father Time was examining mirrors further back from that and he glanced over at what Jamie was looking at.

"Oh yes," Father Time said vaguely. "Those mirrors are showing what could happen. The square mirrors show things that are bad, while the diamond ones are a little trickier. They show some bad things but aren't nearly as bad as the square ones. The round mirrors show good things or at least things that aren't terrible. Those square mirrors that show you in them are most likely displaying what could happen if you were to fail in your mission."

Jamie glanced nervously at a square mirror that showed him facing off with Gethen and then hurriedly looked away from it. Nope, not gonna happen. He wasn't going to get caught. He looked at other mirrors and furrowed his brow.

"Hey, that sort of looks like Lillian," Jamie said as he pointed at a mirror.

Something strange had happened with the hour glass that mirror Jamie had been using and when Jamie had appeared, he was looking around frantically, before spotting a very familiar looking girl with curly brown hair. Only this girl was much older than the Lillian he knew. It couldn't be her, right?

"Lillian? The Child of Spring?" Father Time said interestedly.

He wandered over by Jamie and looked at the mirror. His eyes widened a little and then he looked at other mirrors.

"Oh my," Father Time said as he examined the mirrors. "It would seem that something has happened to make the Child of Spring a mortal."

"What?" Jamie asked, looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"Special people are chosen to be spirits for their jobs. For instance, Jack had been chosen to be Jack Frost, the spirit of winter. Before that, he was an ordinary boy. The same goes for Lillian. Before she became the spirit of spring, she was an ordinary child. Gethen must have found out what happened when Lillian became the spirit of spring and did something to prevent it from happening. That's the only way that she could have possibly grown up, and still be a mortal human."

"So.. I gotta go back in time, figure out what Gethen did to make it so Lillian didn't get chosen and then find a way to stop him without getting caught or changing the past?"

"It would seem so," Father Time said as he patted Jamie's shoulder again. "A tall order for a boy like you."

Jamie's face fell as he considered how hard, how _impossible_ it all sounded. How could he do any of this all by himself?

"Now, 1968 is quite a long ways to travel for a boy," Father Time said. "Let me see.. It would be impractical to give you a silver hour glass as well, but.. Traveling too much at one time would be dangerous for you. It would be easier for you to travel back to Easter of this year, and then for you to travel further back to the Easter of 1968. You must remember though, you _cannot_ be seen. Especially by yourself!"

"Right," Jamie said with a nod. Although a part of him was really curious to see how last Easter would be different without Lillian in it. Would Jack still be all dark and scary? Would Pitch be saved by the moon? It couldn't hurt to have a quick look around while he was there, right?

"I will give you an hour glass that will take you back to Easter of this year and then another that will take you much further back. The first hour glass will only need one turn to take you back. The second.." Father Time sighed. "It will be inconvenient, but the safest for you to use. I will give you a silver hour glass, and that must be turned twenty-two times without stopping. It is important that you get the precise amount of turns or else you will not arrive at the correct year."

"So.. first one, turn it once? And the second one, twenty-two times," Jamie repeated.

Father Time nodded.

"If all goes well, when you return it will be like you never left."

Jamie smiled nervously at that. How was he going to pull this off? He didn't have time to ponder it though, as Father Time had left and returned much too soon with the two hour glasses. They were small and had long chains, like necklaces. Father Time carefully placed a silver hour glass over Jamie's head, followed by a bronze one.

"Turn the bronze hour glass first, then the silver. Remember, you must not remain in Easter too long or you will further change that time's events. We don't know if it will be for the better or worse, so it is best to try and leave things as they are for now, while you try to stop Gethen's plan."

Jamie nodded, but he was _really_ curious to see how Easter was different now.

A quick peek couldn't hurt, right?

With that thought in mind, Jamie carefully held the bronze hour glass and gave it one turn backward.

As the time magic began to swirl all around Jamie, he could hear Father Time's voice give out one last ringing warning.

"Remember, you must not be seen!"

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I'm evil. And I don't particularly like time travel just because of everything you have to think of. Like for instance, when I realized it was already passed Easter, so realistically, Jamie couldn't just turn back time to Easter in 1968 then. Thus the second time turner. And then Jamie derailed everything by wanting to see how Easter would go without Lillian. I'll probably just skim that since we already know what that's like. :)

For people who are confused on why Lillian faded: Gethen stopped her from becoming the Spring Spirit. This means that Lillian grew up (and didn't die!) and the Child of Spring can't co-exist with human Lillian. So that's why Child of Spring Lillian went away. Since technically, someone else would be the Spring Spirit now. Wonder who that could be?! Maybe we'll find out.

There are so many different things that could happen, I'm SO excited for this. I can't wait for Jamie to explore the past and we'll get to see older Lillian! Yay! You think he'll run into any of the Guardians? Or Jack Frost? If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll try to squeeze them in. I know what I want to do, but I can add some things in too.


	81. Chapter 64: Jamie's Adventure: ROTG

Author's Note: I cannot believe this chapter. This chapter wasn't even going to exist and then so much happened! But man am I having fun with it. :P I hope you guys enjoy all the extra drama!

And Crossover Junkie, I already thought of that about Jamie's adventure. That actually occurred to me long after Jamie had gotten the letter, and that lead me to thinking.. _How did she know?!_ She wouldn't remember! In fact, as far as anyone else is concerned, nothing happened! So.. yeaah. That'll be addressed if Jamie succeeds. At this point, who knows what's going to happen!

I hope everyone else is enjoying this and you guys don't mind the unusually fast updates. (For me, anyway.) Next chapter might feature some of human Lillian.. Who knows!

Chapter Sixty-Four: Jamie's Adventure: Rise of the Guardians

 _Current time: Last Easter_

Jamie appeared suddenly in a swirl of magical bronze sparkles, with Father Time's warning still ringing in his ears.

Don't be seen.

Right.

He can do this, right?

Jamie looked around and noticed that he was no longer at Father Time's and was instead across the street from his house. It was the morning of last Easter, and he quickly ducked behind a tree. He peeked out to see that he was in the backyard with his friends.

His eyes widened as he was essentially looking at the Jamie that was only a little younger.

 _Whoa._

Time travel was _weird._

No wonder Father Time wanted him to hurry up and travel to the past. He knew from watching movies that seeing yourself was bad. Like, _really_ bad.

He listened as best he could as his friends complained about Easter and that past Jamie was insisting the Easter Bunny was real.

Time traveler Jamie furrowed his brow at the sight. So much had happened since then, it was hard to keep track of it all. What had happened last Easter?

Oh, right..

Jamie deflated as he remembered. Nothing had really happened until that night when his belief was wavering. All the Guardians had come bursting into his room and convinced him to still believe in them and the Easter Bunny. That was also the night that he learned all about Jack and Lillian.

Jamie frowned a bit to himself. What was he going to do for hours?

* * *

Several veeery boring hours later, Jamie was perched in a tree in his backyard, trying his hardest to feel invisible and not like a creeper.

He felt the cold winter wind whip by him as Jack Frost flew up to his window.

Jamie's jaw dropped.

 _What?_

Jack was _normal!  
_

He wasn't all dark and creepy at all! Jamie stared as Jack stared intently inside the window.

"No.. no.." Jack muttered in distress as he watched past Jamie's belief start to fade. Then he glanced at his staff and smirked.

Jack carefully let himself inside Jamie's room and with a quick tap on the window, he quickly frosted it over. Jack slowly drew out a little Easter egg in the frost and Jamie could hear the past Jamie let out an exclamation of surprise.

Time traveler Jamie saw Jack draw something else in the frost and squinted - was that a bunny? He watched as it looked like the bunny came off the window and.. started hopping in the air?

He couldn't quite see what was going on clearly, but then he heard past Jamie say "Jack Frost?"

And Jack's surprised exclamation.

"You.. you said my name." Jack said, sounding so surprised. "Wait.. can you.. can you hear me? Can you see me?"

Time traveler Jamie couldn't hear past Jamie's response, so he could only assume the past Jamie was in shock. Time traveler Jamie frowned. Where were the Guardians? Weren't they supposed to show up? Everything was so different now!

"He sees me.. He sees me!" Jack cried out happily, and that made time traveler Jamie pause. This Jack didn't have his best friend, Lillian. Did this Jack have anyone? Come to think of it.. if Lillian had grown up, that meant that she was somewhere in the town right now, right? Had her belief been stamped out by the evil Pitch?

He wished he had thought of finding her earlier. How old would she be now?

Oh.. wait.. If she was a kid in 1968, she'd be all _old_. She wouldn't have any belief anyway. Only kids believed in the Guardians.

Jamie was jarred out of his thoughts as he saw a flash of red and then heard a spectacular crash.

"Ohhh, is official. My powers are kaput." he heard North's voice say from out front. Jamie quickly scrambled down from his tree and snuck around the house to go peek out at the Guardians.

He saw the Tooth Fairy try to fly and instead she just fell to the ground.

What were they saying? Something about how there wasn't enough belief left and how the Easter Bunny was the most affected.

Jamie saw the tiny Easter Bunny and covered his mouth. It was hard to look at the Easter Bunny like that and not laugh.

The Easter Bunny, however, was not jumping out of the sleigh. He was perched on the globe in North's sleigh and was frowning at it.

"This says there's a really powerful believer nearby," Bunny exclaimed as Jack snorted at Bunny's appearance.

Jack couldn't help but grin at him.

"Aww, you look so _cute._ "

Time traveler Jamie saw that past Jamie was there too and standing right by Jack.

"Maybe is him?" North asked Bunny as he gestured at past Jamie.

"Nah," Bunny said with a shake of his head, ignoring Jack. "There's two of 'em. And somethin' blue.. Can't quite figure it out."

Bunny thumped the globe with a tiny paw.

"Maybe it's broken."

Time traveler Jamie let out a gasp that had Bunny's ears twitching. Time traveler Jamie pulled back fast as Bunny glanced in his direction with a frown.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Were they sensing _him?_

No wonder Father Time wanted him to leave so fast! Nobody had ever told him that the Guardians could sense kids' beliefs like that!

Before time traveler Jamie had time to dwell on that however, Jack was yelling at the Guardians to look after Jamie and then he flew off after Pitch.

Past Jamie started running with the Guardians with Bunny in the lead.

"This way, this way!"

Time traveler Jamie thought about chasing after them, but he was frozen as he had discreetly followed only to stop as he saw Jack facing off with Pitch on a roof.

That wasn't supposed to happen!

Where were all the explanations by the Easter Bunny about how Pitch was after him, and then Jack being all dark! They didn't even tell him that there were other spirits! And they didn't get his friends!

Time traveler Jamie's eyes widened in horror as Jack shot a bolt of pure winter magic at Pitch, only to have Pitch laugh at Jack and tell him that little trick didn't work anymore.

"Other way, other way!" Bunny cried in panic as he accidentally lead the past Jamie and Guardians into a dead end alley.

They didn't have time to get away though as Jack fell out of the air and bounced off a dumpster with a groan.

"He's stronger.." Jack said as he sat up. "I couldn't beat him."

The past Guardians all exchanged looks at that. What were they going to do? They still hadn't gotten their powers back and Jack was the strongest out of all of them right now.

No one seemed to notice as a time traveler Jamie snuck closer to the alley, the better to hear them all with. He had to find out what was going to happen. After all, if he failed in his mission.. This would be the new reality.

"How adorable!" he heard Pitch exclaim. "Would you like a scratch behind the ear?"

Time traveler Jamie heard the Easter Bunny reply angrily and then Pitch's claim that there was more than one way to snuff out a light.

Jamie stifled a gasp at that. Was Pitch.. Was he actually threatening to..?

"Are you afraid of the Boogey - " Pitch started, but was cut off.

Then Jamie heard laughter and the next thing he knew, he was diving behind some parked cars because past Jack, the Guardians and past Jamie were all zooming by on sleds.

"Let's get your friends!" Jack exclaimed.

Past Jamie stared after them in dismay, since there was no way he'd be able to keep up. What was going on?! Were the other Guardians still sensing him? Had he already changed this past? Man.. He'd barely even started his mission and he was already messing it up!

As his fear began to mount, he failed to notice the sound of footsteps nearby. He let out a huge gasp as he suddenly felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

"Well, well.. What do we have here?" Pitch's smooth voice said from behind.

Time traveler Jamie looked up in horror at the gray face of the Boogeyman.

* * *

Past Jack and the Guardians had gathered all of Jamie's friends and now stood in the street as a huge wave of Nightmares and black sand began to gather behind Pitch.

Only this time, Pitch wasn't alone.

Time traveler Jamie's eyes were filled with tears as he stared in despair at the astonished look on past Jamie's face and the shocked expressions of the Guardians and Jack.

He failed.

He ruined _everything._

Now Pitch was going to get rid of him and he wouldn't even be able to save Lillian -

"Let him go!" Jack said harshly as he glared at Pitch.

Pitch had a firm grip on time traveler Jamie's arm. He grinned maliciously at Jack and the Guardians and especially past Jamie.

"Why would I want to do a thing like that?" he said with dark amusement. He looked from one Jamie to the other. "My, my.. It looks like we have a set of twins here, wouldn't you say?"

He looked particularly at Bunny as he said this and Bunny's eyes widened.

Bunny saw the necklaces that Jamie had failed to tuck under his shirt. He recognized those! What was this kid playing at?!

"What are ya doing?!" Bunny exclaimed as he stared at Jamie in horror. Was the kid trying to create a paradox?!

Time traveler Jamie's lip trembled as the Easter Bunny yelled at him. Could this day get any worse?

"Pitch," Jack glared at him.

"What do you think would happen if I were to borrow some of these, hm?" Pitch said as he reached for the necklaces that time traveler Jamie was wearing.

Time traveler Jamie tried to jerk away from Pitch, but Pitch merely tightened his grip, causing Jamie to cry out in pain and alarm.

"Stop it..!" Jamie shouted, his voice getting more hysterical. "Let me go!"

Pitch was about to grab the necklaces when he was suddenly pelted with a barrage of snowballs. Time traveler Jamie could see that past Jamie and his friends were firing snowball after snowball at Pitch, courtesy of Jack Frost.

Time traveler Jamie took the opportunity to kick Pitch in the knee, causing Pitch to let out some choice words and loosen his grip on Jamie.

Jamie wrenched his arm away from Pitch and staggered back from him. He moved even farther back as Pitch glared at him.

"You little brat!" Pitch yelled at him. "You think you can escape me, the King of Nightmares?!"

With that, Pitch pointed at time traveler Jamie and the huge wave of Nightmares aimed right for him.

Yeah.. Now seemed like a good time to leave.

Time traveler Jamie hurriedly fumbled for the silver hour glass and hastily began to count as he turned it backward as fast as he could. The huge wave of Nightmares was coming straight at him and Jamie continued counting as fast as he could.

"Ten, eleven, twelve.." he said out loud as he tried very hard to ignore the impending doom that was headed right for him.

"Jamie!" Jack cried out in alarm and dismay as the Nightmares approached him.

"Fourteen!" Jamie's trembling voice shouted. "Fifteen.. Six.. sixteen..!"

He closed his eyes tightly as the Nightmares reached him and tried his best to not stop turning the hour glass.

Instead of being hurt by the Nightmares though, the black sand suddenly turned into bright gold as Jamie's very strong belief was too much for even the King of Nightmares.

"Seventeen.." Jamie gasped as he staggered from the outpouring of sand that was hitting him.

Past Jamie's friends were bolstered by the fact that the black sand wasn't hurting other Jamie, and soon all the kids were chasing after Nightmares.

North grinned as suddenly he was able to lift his swords and Tooth was happy that she could fly again.

Bunny, unfortunately, was being chased by a few Nightmares while he was still a Pooka kit and he was _not_ happy about it. He glanced over at the other Jamie while he was running and saw Tooth swoop in to move him out of the way of the black sand that was still trying to get to him.

"Wait!" Bunny cried out. "Don't touch 'im!"

It was too late, however, as Tooth had reached the time traveler Jamie and lifted him up into her arms as she hastily flew with him off to the side of the road and away from the big fight.

"Whoa!" Jamie cried out as he fumbled with the silver hour glass in his hands. It turned over a few more times before he dropped it. "No..!"

He looked up at the Tooth fairy in dismay as the silver hour glass began to glow.

"You messed me up..!" he cried out as he struggled in her arms.

"Wait, what do you mean?!" she said anxiously as she hastily let Jamie down before he fell down.

Time traveler Jamie didn't respond as he moved even further away from her. He looked completely panicked and seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

"I won't.. I won't be able to.." he said to himself as he was freaking out.

Bunny, still quite small, had managed to ditch the Nightmares and raced over to time traveler Jamie.

"Don't panic!" Bunny called out to time traveler Jamie. "Remember how many turns ya did! You can fix it!"

"I don't know..!" Jamie wailed as the time magic began to envelop him in silvery swirls of sparkly magic. "I won't be able to save her..! You won't.. you won't ever know..!"

"Calm down and count 'em out ya gumby!" Bunny said in irritation. "Count 'em when ya get there! Then turn it either forward or backward, dependin' on how much you were over or under by!"

The Guardians, Jack Frost and the Burgess kids all stared at the tortured look on time traveler Jamie's face as he vanished from their sight.

"What. Was. That!" Past Jamie exclaimed as he stared at the spot where his doppelganger had been.

"That," Bunny said in frustration as he wiped a paw down his face. "Is what happens when ya mess with time. Nothin' good ever comes of it."

Jamie's eyes practically fell out of his head at that.

"Am I going to time travel?!" he squeaked. "M-me?!"

Bunny shook his head.

"Dunno," he said. "That kid's already messed things up. He's changed things and that's never a good thing. Especially seein' yerself. If you didn't already have such a strong belief, it coulda driven you crazy."

As Jamie was talking with Bunny, nobody noticed Pitch Black sneaking up behind Jack Frost, his black scythe raised, poised to strike.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is shorter than more recent ones, but I couldn't resist stopping there. It seemed like a good place to quit. I'm evil, I know. And no, I didn't forget about Bunny. He still has yet to change back. This whole chapter totally went off on its own here. I was only going to skim through some events and Jamie was merely going to be an observer. Yeah, like _that_ was going to happen.

Next chapter we'll see if past Jack survives or not (I'm not that evil, don't worry.. I won't leave you hanging, even if it technically doesn't matter what happens as long as Jamie successfully changes the past anyway) and then we'll see more of Jamie's time traveling adventures. I hope I did a good job on referring to the two Jamie's so it wasn't too confusing.

Let me know what you guys think so far!


	82. Chapter 65: Jamie's Adv: Father Time

Author's Note: I had so much fun writing this chapter! I love this story arc. We wound up staying a little longer in the Last Easter than I thought we would but that's alright. Poor Jack though. :( I feel so sorry for him. Obviously, he isn't as close to the Guardians in this as he was in their changed timeline with Lillian. As for Father Time, I imagine that where he lives is a bit protected, so perhaps he'd remember things that were going on and he'd be able to set things in motion.

Now.. reviews!

Crossover Junkie: I was going to have Jamie remember things. He kind of has to in order for things to start off like they should. If he forgot, who would be able to let a certain Child of Spring know? We know she has a letter to write after all. ;) Your mentioning of Susan asking Death for advice gave me a lot of ideas, so thanks!

Skypeoplephoenix732: I'm glad that you're enjoying this plot! I am too. And thanks for chiming in. I can tell people must like this story from follows/faves, but if I don't hear anything back it kinda makes me wonder if anyone likes where the story is going.

Chapter Sixty-Five: Jamie's Adventure: Father Time

 _Current time: Last Easter_

Pitch Black was poised to strike, an evil smirk on his gray face, with his yellowish-golden eyes glinting. He was going to _win_. Not even that annoying Frost or the bratty believers would stop him!

While Jamie was busy talking with Bunny, Pippa sidled up to Jamie. She tugged on his sleeve and gestured off to where the golden sand was starting to form into a sort of whirlwind.

"Look," Pippa said quietly.

Bunny heard her of course but turned to talk to the others on what they should do. He was still rather annoyed that he hadn't gotten his powers back. Being this small was bad for his ego.

Tooth was busy talking a mile a minute as she came up with ways to get believers back so that they would be stronger and -

She paused as her gaze had wandered over to Jack and her eyes widened.

"Jack! Look out!" she suddenly screamed.

Jack ducked out of instinct and cried out with an indignant "Hey!" when a black scythe tore the sleeve of his blue hoodie.

He managed to barely dodge the second swipe from the scythe, but tripped over his feet and fell to the ground. When Jack looked up, Pitch was towering over him while more Nightmares were keeping North, Tooth, and Bunny all busy. Bunny was looking particularly annoyed at having to run away from a Nightmare again.

Jack stared at the scythe that Pitch was wielding and then seemed to remember that he had his staff. He went to freeze Pitch, but before he could do so a golden whip shot out and grabbed Pitch's hand.

Pitch stared at the golden sand whip that had a hold of him before he went flying all over the place as Sandy flung him effortlessly with his dreamsand whip. He then pulled Pitch in towards him and finished him off with a devastating uppercut and Pitch fell to the ground in the background, unconscious and sound asleep, with innocent golden butterflies flying over his head.

"Sandy!" All the Guardians cried out in relief. North had managed to use his swords to take out the remaining Nightmares while the Burgess kids helped out with just touching the black sand, turning it back into golden dreamsand.

Sandy grinned at his friends and tipped a golden bowler hat at them. Then he floated up on his golden cloud and dreamsand flew everywhere. He even made a giant dreamsand brontosaurus and various other dreamsand animals.

Jack couldn't help but grin at the sight and his annoyance at his hoodie being torn and almost dying (again!) went away as he watched his friend work. He glanced at Jamie and smirked.

Soon all the kids were lobbing snowballs at one another thanks to Jack. A snowball flew through the air and hit Bunny square in the face. North burst out laughing at the annoyed look on Bunny's face, especially since Bunny was still a little Pooka kit.

"Why I oughtta.." Bunny grumbled to himself as he shot the kids a look.

Another snowball hit North and North grinned as Jack, Jamie and Monty all pointed fingers at one another.

"You are all on Naughty list!" North laughed as he packed a big snowball and threw it in their direction. Soon all the Guardians were involved in the snowball fight and were having fun.

"You DARE to have fun in my presence!" Pitch had obviously woken up in a bad mood. "I'm the Boogeyman and you will fear me!"

He stalked towards Jamie who was laughing with his friends and reached out to grab Jamie's neck. The Guardians and Jack all saw this and tensed, ready for a fight.

But Jamie and his friends ran right through Pitch, not even seeing him. Pitch clutched at his chest and staggered back a few steps with his eyes wide, looking lost.

Jack's expression changed and he looked a little conflicted. He knew exactly how that felt since it wasn't until recently that anyone took notice of him. It had even taken three hundred years for one boy to be able to see him!

Pitch took in the menacing looks the other Guardians were giving him and for once in his life, he felt afraid. He turned and took off running past some houses and into the woods. When he hit the ice of the lake, he didn't even pause in his running. He was so intent on running away he didn't even notice North and ran smack into him, falling ungracefully backward onto the ice. Bunny stood menacingly on North's shoulder, tiny as ever and sneered at Pitch.

The rest of the Guardians and Jack stood behind North, all with unfriendly looks on their faces. Pitch glanced down in confusion as a quarter went sailing into his hand.

"A quarter?" he asked, but a second later had his answer as Tooth punched him square in the mouth. He flew backward and a tooth fell out onto the ice.

"That was for my fairies!" she said as she glared at Pitch.

Pitch got up to his feet.

"You can't get rid of me," he said trying to sound menacing, but he didn't sound very convincing when his voice trembled a little. But Pitch was nothing if not a master manipulator and he looked smug as he continued. "There will _always_ be fear."

"So what?" North said, looking unconcerned. "As long as one child believes, we will always be there to fight fear."

"Really?" Pitch said as he took in the Nightmares all gathering around the lake. "Then what are they doing here?"

He looked very smug until North glanced around and shrugged.

"They are not my Nightmares, I am not afraid," North said.

The others looked around and not one of them looked even a little afraid.

Pitch's smug look was wiped right off his face at Jack's words next.

"Looks like it's your fear they smell," Jack told Pitch. He didn't look very sorry about it either. Pitch had snapped his staff after all and abandoned him in Antarctica. Even if he did feel a little sorry for Pitch, that didn't mean he was going to _help_ him or anything. This was the Boogeyman!

Pitch stepped backward as the Nightmares advanced. They suddenly turned into swirling black sand and Pitch tried to run away, but it was no use. They caught up and dragged him back down under the bed frame into the pitch darkness of his lair.

"N-nooo..!" Pitch cried out as he scrabbled desperately at the ground. He tried his best, but he just couldn't escape the black sand that had now turned against him. After he was dragged down into the hole of his lair, the bed frame collapsed and the ground closed up by itself, sealing Pitch away in the eternal darkness.

Jack looked up at the full moon that was shining brightly down on them and gave it a half smirk. He knew the Moon had sealed up Pitch's lair. Good riddance!

The other Guardians gathered around Jack and North had a very familiar looking huge book in his hands.

"Are you ready Jack?" he asked. "To make it official?"

Jack didn't need to respond as North launched into the Guardian ceremony.

"..all that we are, and all that we will ever be?"

Jack glanced back as the Burgess kids all wandered up, their eyes lit up with wonder at seeing such a ceremony with Jamie in the lead. Jamie gave Jack a bright-eyed smile and nodded encouragingly at Jack.

"I will," Jack said with a smile at Jamie.

"Then congratulations Jack Frost, for you are now and forevermore a Guardian," North said with a smile as he passed the book off to Tooth who nearly fell out of the air with the weight of it.

North seized Jack, lifting him off his feet but before he could do anything else, Bunny started wriggling on his shoulder.

"Finally!" Bunny cried out as he began to grow.

North chuckled as he wound up in a heap on the ice with a full grown Bunny. Since he was holding Jack at the time, Jack wound up in the heap too.

Jack grinned at Bunny who grinned right back at him. It seemed that just like that, all was forgiven. As North, Bunny, and Jack tried to untangle themselves and get up to their feet, the sleigh made a spectacular landing as all the kids let out loud exclamations at seeing it. North gave Bunny a smirk.

"Everyone loves the sleigh!"

Bunny rolled his eyes* and didn't comment as Sandy set off dreamsand fireworks for the kids. He stepped forward to little Sophie and bent down to her with a gentle smile on his face.

"See you later ya little anklebiter," he said as his green eyes softened. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Bye-bye Bunny," little Sophie said as she patted Bunny's nose.

Bunny rose and headed back to the sleigh with only minimal grumbles about riding in it as he and the other Guardians all piled in.

"You coming Jack?" North called out.

Jack turned to head towards the sleigh when he heard Jamie's disappointed voice.

"You're leaving?" Jamie said, sounding extremely disappointed. "But what if Pitch comes back? What if we stop believing again? If I can't see you - "

"Whoa, whoa!" Jack said as he walked quickly over to Jamie. "Slow down there."

He placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder and knelt down to be more on his level.

"You telling me you stop believing in the moon when the sun comes out?"

Jamie smiled a bit and shook his head.

"No."

"Are you telling me you stop believing in the sun when the clouds block it out?" Jack asked.

Jamie chuckled at the thought.

"No."

Jack gave Jamie's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"We'll always be there Jamie," Jack said with a smile. As he continued talking, he pointed at Jamie's heart. "And now, we'll always be here. Which kinda makes you a Guardian too."

Jack stood and turned to go, but paused when Jamie called out.

"Jack!"

Jamie ran towards Jack looking concerned and crashed into Jack as Jack turned back around to face him.

Jack had a look of complete shock on his face as Jamie's arms encircled his waist and held on tightly to him. It was the first hug Jack had ever received as a spirit. In three hundred very long years, it was the first physical act of kindness Jack had received. Not only that, but a _human_ was touching him. Feeling slightly overwhelmed Jack's face softened as he hugged Jamie back. It took everything he had not to hug Jamie too fiercely. He kept the hug gentle but brief and soon pulled away. He ran back to the sleigh and jumped onto the side as it took off into the sky.

The kids all stared up in wonder and Jamie waved. Jack waved back with his staff and a single snowflake was formed. With help from Jack, it floated back down to Jamie and landed on the tip of his nose.

Jamie grinned at that.

"Wait a minute," Pippa said. "What about that other Jamie?"

* * *

Back on the sleigh, the Guardians were having similar thoughts.

"Normally we would go back to Pole," North explained to Jack. "But now I am thinking we should visit Father Time."

"You guys all hang out at the Pole a lot?" Jack asked with interest. "Wait.. there's a Father Time?!"

Bunny rolled his eyes.

"'Course there's a Father Time ya gumby," he said as he ignored North's haphazard steering. "And we don't hang at the Pole. North needs ta park his sleigh and we normally would go back ta our own homes."

"Oh," Jack said as his face fell a little.

He didn't really have a home to go back to. He doubted any of the Guardians knew, of course. He hardly interacted with any of them except for Sandy, and even then he rarely saw Sandy at his lake. Sandy had seen Jack plenty of times when Jack was sleeping, but Sandy probably hadn't made the leap to think that Jack actually lived at the lake.

"You ok, sweetie?" Tooth asked as she saw Jack's disappointed look.

Jack hitched an all too familiar smirk on his face.

"Sure," he said because he knew he had to answer Tooth. "So why are we going to Father Time's?"

Bunny glanced at Jack with an annoyed expression on his face. He might get along with Jack now, but that didn't mean that Jack had stopped annoying him. Why did this kid ask all these annoying questions? If Bunny hadn't been so annoyed, he might have been able to see through Jack's smirk.

But he was annoyed and not interested in noticing anything else.

"So he can tell us what that kid was up ta," Bunny said as he rolled his eyes. "It's not hard ta figure out."

"If this other Jamie's from some other time," Jack said as he thought out loud, "would Father Time know what he's up to?"

"Father Time has his ways - " Bunny started to say, but the end of 'ways' came out as more of a shriek as the sleigh suddenly went through a portal that North had created with a snowglobe while they had been talking.

When they appeared, Bunny was clutching his chest.

"A little warning next time!" he called out angrily to North as he fought his usual nausea.

Jack looked startled to see that they were in London, England.

"Uh.." Jack said as he saw Big Ben looming up at them. "Father Time lives here?"

"You know what to do, Tooth!" North said with a grin at Jack.

"Got it!" Tooth called out as she flew up from the sleigh.

She flew right at Big Ben and grabbed the minute hand, spinning it around with her momentum and not stopping until it hit exactly midnight.

The deafening sound of Big Ben chiming had Bunny wincing.

"Here we go!" North said as he urged his reindeer to fly right at Big Ben. Tooth hopped in the sleigh and sat behind North with Sandy as Sandy clapped delightedly. He always did like the sleigh rides.

"N-North!" Jack cried out in alarm as they were clearly headed right for the clock face.

North only chuckled while Jack cringed in fear as it looked like they were going to crash. Jack had closed his eyes as he prepared for the crash, but no crash came.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that they were in a very vast room that had a lot of different kinds of clocks on the walls. Jack's jaw dropped as he stared at it all.

"Wh.. what? " he said in complete surprise.

North grinned again as he got out of the sleigh, which had landed right in the room.

"Makes sense for Father Time to live in clock, no?"

Jack shook his head and stared at all the clocks on the walls. There were so many!

Father Time walked up behind them all, smiling at them.

"Let me guess," he said, causing Jack to jump in surprise and whirl around. "You want to ask me about that boy."

Jack blinked.

"How.. how could you possibly know that?!"

Father Time chuckled.

"I am Father Time after all," he said. "I have my ways of viewing past and future events."

Jack stared in awe at the grandfatherly Father Time.

"You can see the future?"

Father Time nodded.

"Time is complicated. Everything you do can cause a different future event to take place. I can see all these events, but it is difficult to see what path our story is going to take. Sometimes it takes a darker turn, other times it is quite peaceful."

"Why would ya give that Bennett kid some of yer hourglasses?" Bunny demanded. "He's messin' with time! It's dangerous!"

Father Time nodded again.

"Yes, he's certainly been popping up quite a bit. Would you like to see?"

The Guardians indicated they would, so Father Time led them all to his Room of Possibilities.

Jack looked around at all the mirrors with his mouth open. There were so many! It was unbelievable!

"If you see here," Father TIme said as he led them over to a particular set of mirrors. "From about 1968 to 1978 or so, that boy seems to pop up quite a bit."

The Guardians all stared at the mirrors that Father Time gestured to, and they did see Jamie Bennett in quite a few of them.

Bunny furrowed his brow.

"Why's he keep talkin' to some girl?" he asked. Then he paused as he looked at the girl. "Wait a minute.. I know her! That's that Parker kid. She's a strong believer. I never had a kid who was so old still believe in me."

North looked perplexed.

"Lillian Parker? She is always on Naughty List, no? I am always hearing she is not listening to her father."

Bunny shrugged.

"I don't know about that. I just know she loves findin' the googies on Easter. She tucks 'em into her pockets to save fer later."

Tooth stared at the mirrors looking alarmed and concerned.

"Bunny.. Jack.. Are you getting some really weird memories?"

"About Jamie?" Jack asked.

Tooth nodded, as she watched Jamie Bennett converse with an older Lillian in one mirror.

"Yeah," Jack said. "I always thought nobody could see me until today, but.. now I'm remembering Jamie saw me a long time ago. I think he told that Lillian kid about me too."

"What is Jamie Bennett up to?" North asked in amusement as he looked at the mirrors.

Bunny stared at one particular mirror.

"Is.. is he talkin' ta Pitch?!" Bunny loudly exclaimed.

The Guardians all stared at one another and then stared at the mirror Bunny was looking at in shock. There was Jamie Bennett, sitting outside a forest and talking to none other than Pitch Black.

"Lillian Parker, hm?" Father Time mused to himself. "I'll have to remember that."

* * *

 _Current time: 1974_

Jamie Bennett suddenly appeared in a whirlwind of silvery sparkles. He staggered backward and felt the world tilt as he fell over to the ground. He groaned as he felt _awful._ Was it possible to have time sickness? Because he thought he had it.

He lay in the grass, just breathing in the scent and trying his hardest to settle his stomach. As he lay there, he wondered what time he wound up in. He remembered Bunny kept shouting at him to count the turns, but it was such a blur. He knew the hourglass had turned a few more times after he dropped it, but he didn't know how many exactly.

Even if he somehow still wound up in the correct time, he still didn't have a clue on what he was supposed to do. Did he even appear in the right spot? What if he was lost in time?! What if he couldn't find his way back! Oh, if only the Tooth Fairy hadn't messed him up!

As he lay there panicking, he failed to hear the footsteps walking up to him. Jamie found himself suddenly sitting up as he heard the smooth voice start talking, however. Jamie was careful to tuck the necklaces into his shirt this time before anyone could see them.

"My, what a lot of fear you have," the smooth voice commented. "There are so many things you fear, it's difficult to tell just what it is you are most afraid of."

Jamie's eyes widened in horror as he looked up into the face of Pitch Black.

While Jamie was frozen in fear, another voice piped up. This voice made Jamie shudder since it reminded him of coffins and tombstones. Every syllable fell heavily, like coffin lids closing.

"Pity," the deep voice said. "I wasn't expecting you to make it."

Jamie turned his head and saw a tall figure in a dark cloak, wielding a huge scythe. As Jamie literally stared at Death, he shrieked in terror.

* * *

*When I went back and watched the very end of the movie, I know Bunny makes up with North about the sleigh thing, but I had already written that part and thought it was funnier. So I kept it the way it was. I wanted my story version to be similar to the end of the movie, but I didn't want it exactly word-for-word, so that's why things are slightly different. I thought it would be too boring if I just copied everything directly from the movie. I also don't like how Jack clearly feels sorry for the Boogeyman, but then that totally changes. I also don't like the confrontation at the lake, since it feels like all the Guardians are ganging up on Pitch. He never gets a chance for redemption and is just locked away forever. Poor Pitch!

Author's Note: Yes, there is _another_ cliffhanger. I can't help it, I swear! I just find these really good stopping points.. Ahem. Anyway, I thought since Jamie is getting into all these harrowing situations that it might be fun to have Death turn up again. Pitch decided to show up again too because Jamie was so afraid. But since Jamie's fears were all jumbled, Pitch can't exactly hear what Jamie's afraid of. Which I suppose would be a good thing for now. It will be interesting to see if this Pitch is totally evil or not since Lillian never came to him. She helped him to be softer but on the other hand.. He did take her in all on his own, so he wasn't _completely_ evil. If you'll remember, he didn't get more evil until later, when he started experimenting with the black sand, and that didn't take place until Lillian was an invisible student in high school.

I'm not sure if we'll visit the Last Easter time to see what's going on with the Guardians again. I just wanted them to visit Father Time, so Father Time would have a heads up on Jamie's visiting. If you're wondering why Father Time lives in Big Ben, I was inspired by the cartoon Peter Pan (where they all land on the hands of the clock) and the book version of Kiki's Delivery Service. There's a part in the book where Kiki has to manually move the hands of the big clock tower, and she flies as fast as she can at the clock and whirls the minute hand around. That is what Tooth did in that part there.

Anyway, sorry for the long author's note and let me know what you think of the story! If you have any plot suggestions, let me know. Things are going to get even more interesting from now on!


	83. Chapter 66: Jamie's Adv: Pitch & Lillian

Author's Note: Time travel is confusing. I was even confusing myself a bit when I was writing this, so I hope that later on in the story things aren't too confusing. If they are, just let me know what questions you have and I'll try to explain my reasoning. Anyway, I'm having so much fun writing this! If I had more time during the week I'd totally get more chapters out. But sadly, I don't, so I think I'll stick with my weekend postings for now. I won't be so busy on Friday of next week, so I should be able to work more on the next chapter Friday night and hopefully get it out to you at some time on Saturday.

Now.. onto the review! (Yes, _singular. Hint hint._ )

Crossover Junkie: Thanks for pointing that out to me. I admit I had briefly entertained the thought that Pitch had turned more evil without Lillian in his life, but I realized that wouldn't make much sense for his character. He had chosen to take Lillian in all on his own after all. I just imagine that this Pitch is much more lonely. Maybe the black sand had a faster effect on him without Lillian around? After all, he didn't have her to tiptoe around, etc.

I hope you guys like where the story is going! I do have major events planned out already, but I can always use some suggestions for little things that could happen in Jamie's Adventures.

Chapter Sixty-Six: Jamie's Adventure: Pitch & Lillian

 _Current time: Still 1974_

Pitch rolled his eyes and gave Death a look.

"Is this necessary?" he snapped.

Death, in as much as an unchanging skeletal face can, gave Pitch an appraising look.

"Yes," his deep voice said simply, the tone reminding Pitch of a crypt.

Pitch snorted.

"I wasn't aware that Death came to claim ordinary children."

Jamie by now had stopped shrieking, but there definitely wasn't enough air as he stared at Pitch and the really creepy guy with a scythe. Did Pitch call him _Death?!_

"That is no ordinary child," Death said cryptically, causing Jamie to shift uncomfortably.

"Y-Yes I am!" Jamie contradicted, his voice a little higher than normal.

Death turned to look at Jamie, his empty eye sockets seeming to look amused somehow, which caused Jamie to shudder. Death was _creepy._

"If you had gone much further," he said to Jamie, his every syllable weighing heavily, "you would have died. That in itself is a demise worthy of Death."

As he finished speaking, Death shot the Boogeman a look.

Pitch wasn't quite sure how Death accomplished this, since his face was a _skull,_ but Death had eons of practice and quite the repertoire of expressions.

"..I.. I.. almost _died?!_ " Jamie squeaked as he turned pale.

Death pulled out an ancient pocket watch from his robes and sighed.

"Unfortunately, it seems it is not your time.. Yet."

Death scowled at the pocket watch and put it away. He stalked off abruptly as he grumbled there was yet another person who didn't know how to keep an appointment. He cheered himself up with the thought that perhaps he could pay that wizard another visit. Even Death had to have his hobbies after all, and trying to kill that miserable wizard was one of them.*

After Death left, Jamie stared at Pitch, his eyes still wide. Pitch looked back at Jamie with a frown.

"Why do you think I'm going to kill you?" Pitch asked the boy.

There wasn't concern in his tone, oh no. No, Pitch certainly didn't care about children at all. All he cared about was scaring them.

But there were certain fears even Pitch didn't like, and having a child frightened of him practically to the point of hyperventilation was one of them.

True, he was an imposing figure, but it somehow felt wrong that the boy was _that_ frightened of him. His frown deepened when he thought of what that overgrown Halloween decoration had said. What did he mean when he said if that if the boy had gone much further he'd have died?

"Wh-what are you going to d-do with me?" Jamie stuttered, as he looked at Pitch. The Pitch he had met before had been willing to _kill_ him. Would this Pitch be the same?! Maybe Lillian is what kept Pitch from being really evil!

Pitch pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt the boy's fear increase.

"Where do you live?" he finally asked in exasperation.

"N-nowhere!" Jamie said hastily, but then thought about it. His expression fell when he realized he had no clue what year it was and that his mom probably didn't even own their house yet. "I don't.. have anywhere to go."

Pitch took in the boy's crestfallen expression and his own turned inscrutable. Where were those blasted Guardians? This was _their_ department.

Pitch silently studied the boy and sighed. He was definitely going soft.

"You aren't staying," Pitch snapped, but paused when Jamie flinched as if Pitch had struck him. His tone softened a little. "But you can come have some tea, until we figure out what to do with you."

Jamie gaped at Pitch. Lillian had always said how nice Pitch was, but Jamie hadn't really seen that side of him too much. Jamie hadn't really interacted with Pitch much at all, unless you counted that time by the lake when Pitch yelled at them, or when Jamie and his friends had helped save Pitch from being super evil.

"Come on," Pitch said a touch impatiently as he grabbed a hold of Jamie's arm.

The sky was turning pink with the approaching dawn and Pitch knew that he had to go. Before Jamie could say anything, PItch had pulled him into the nearby shadow of a tree.

* * *

Pitch walked out of a shadow in his lair with Jamie in tow. It was very dark, with the only light coming from the dim light of the dawn that came from the hole that was under the bed frame. Being able to see quite well in the dark, Pitch didn't really need much light.

As he heard Jamie practically hyperventilating behind him, Pitch had to admit that perhaps shadow travel wasn't the best idea to use for a human boy.

Jamie couldn't stop shivering as he tried very much to forget that horrible trip. The darkness inbetween the shadows had been absolute, and everything had gone cold, dark and silent. It was _awful._

Pitch glanced back a little guiltily as he led Jamie through his globe room.

"This way," he said to Jamie as he took Jamie off to his kitchen. He sat Jamie down at the rock table and went about heating the water for tea.

Soon the kettle had been whistling and he and Jamie were seated at the table with a steaming mug of tea each. Jamie's hand trembled as he put a couple lumps of sugar in his tea and stirred it. He gripped his mug tightly and took a deep, steadying breath.

He had barely even begun his journey and he was already lost in time and would probably have nightmares the rest of his life if he even lived that long!

Pitch avoided Jamie's frightened gaze as he stirred his own tea. He took a sip as he considered what in the world he was going to do with the boy.

"Do you have any family in the area?" Pitch asked as he looked over at Jamie.

Jamie quickly averted his gaze down to his tea, and thought of his grandma and grandpa, but he realized he couldn't stay with them. He didn't know where they were currently living for one, and two, his own mother would be much younger and three, he wasn't even born yet so nobody would know who he was.

Jamie silently shook his head as his eyes turned sad. What was he going to do?

Pitch sighed and looked down at his own tea.

 _Great._

Pitch continued his silent contemplation as he looked at his tea. After a few very long moments, he finally took a sip and came to a conclusion. He could not keep the boy, children were trouble anyway. He would have to take the boy to a police station once it wasn't so bright outside. The boy could stay at Pitch's for the day, but that was all.

Nodding to himself, Pitch set his mug back down and went to tell Jamie his game plan, only to pause and stare at Jamie's sleeping form. Apparently when Pitch had been thinking, a sleepy Jamie had rested his head on his arms on the table and fell asleep.

Pitch internally grumbled to himself, but remembered that Jamie was staying only a day at his place anyway. He didn't know what had happened, but perhaps the boy had been through a lot. He had been so frightened after all.

Pitch sighed again and went to stand, when Jamie shifted slightly in his sleep. There was a soft clinking sound and Pitch stared as a pendant fell out of Jamie's shirt. Jamie had thought the necklace was just a small, circular pendant when he had seen it from the back, but it was much more than that. Pitch could see that while it was circular, it actually consisted of two snakes twining around each other, biting eachother's tails. The symbol that their bodies formed in the middle was that of eternity.

 _The Amulet of Protection.**_

Nobody had seen that in hundreds of years! And certainly never on a human boy. Pitch continued to stare as his thoughts whirled around. Everyone in the spirit world knew what that was. The bearer of the amulet was always said to be on a very important quest. The amulet granted them amnesty from any past or future actions, and as such, anyone who came across an amulet bearer was to cause them no harm and to help them in any way that they could. To go against this was to face dire consequences. Pitch shivered a little as he stared. What quest could this mere _child_ be on?

As Pitch continued to stare at the amulet, he noticed there were other chains around the boy's neck. Feeling almost guilty for prying, Pitch reached out and gently tugged at the chains. There was more soft clinking as the two hourglasses fell from Jamie's shirt onto the table. Thankfully they were made of strong stuff and didn't break. Nor did they turn over either forward or backward, much to Pitch's relief, once he got a good look at them.

But then Pitch froze as he stared.

Where those from _Father Time?!  
_

Pitch stared for a long moment before his mind started working again. That would explain why the boy was so hesitant about where he was from, and his family. He was most likely from another time and would either not have any family in this time, or perhaps his family would not know who he was in this time.

Pitch nodded to himself, it all made sense. He looked at the hourglasses in consternation as he knew it was incredibly dangerous to play with time. He supposed the boy was not even supposed to be speaking to him, and that could be one of the causes of the boy's large amount of fear. Perhaps he was also afraid of Pitch discovering his secret?

Pitch rolled his eyes at this. If he could change any moment in time, he knew precisely what it would be - unfortunately, it was much too far back in time for him to safely go to and who knew what sort of dire consequences it could have? No.. Pitch had no interest in changing other moments in time at the moment. He frowned as he continued to look at Jamie. This meant that the boy obviously had to stay, at least for now.

Abandoning his tea that was mostly gone, Pitch stood and walked around the table to the boy. He gently scooped Jamie up into his arms and strode off with Jamie, carrying him. He walked easily in the dark halls, taking no notice of the absence of light and walked into a spare room that he had. He had been saving it for someone special, but..

With a sigh, he carried Jamie over to the rock bed. It was low to the ground and had no dark and scary space underneath. The bed lay at the bottom of a half circle that was carved out of the wall, and consisted of a child's mattress that had sheets and a hand-stiched quilt on it. The pillow looked very fluffy and comfortable. Pitch lay Jamie down on the bed and removed the boy's shoes, leaving them on the floor near the bed.

Quickly and efficiently, Pitch had Jamie changed into a spare set of pajamas that were kept in this room. If they were meant for a little girl, Pitch made no comment. After all, once upon a time boys wore nightdresses, didn't they? Pitch's thoughts didn't stray much to the nightdress he had changed Jamie into though, and soon he had the boy tucked in.

Pitch looked around the room sadly, it had been empty for so long. Across from the bed were shelves that had been carved into the wall. In the corner there was a bookcase of sorts, consisting of more shelves carved into the wall. There was even a small boulder with a flat top to be a rock table of sorts that a child could sit at and either read or draw.

Pitch would never know, of course, but he had just given Jamie the Child of Spring's bedroom. Pitch walked over to the door and looked back at Jamie. The boy looked so small in that bed. So very young. He frowned at the burden that the boy had to bear. Tonight, he decided. Before he had to leave to spread his nightmares, he would find out what the boy's quest was and help him in any way that he could. Not because it was an obligation, but because.. it would be wrong to leave the boy on his own, looking as lost as he did.

Pitch snorted to himself as he left the room.

He was _definitely_ going soft.

* * *

A few hours later, a very sleepy Pitch was roused from sleep by a cry of fear. He sat up as he tiredly rubbed his eyes wondering what was going on, when he felt a large surge of fear coming from a certain room. It took Pitch a moment to think of why that would be, but then he remembered.

Right.. the boy.

Pitch walked down the hall to the nearby room, after putting on a dressing gown over his pajamas. As mostly everything he owned was black, he blended in perfectly with the darkness.

"M-mom?" Jamie's scared voice hesitantly called out.

It was pitch dark in the room and Pitch suddenly realized why the boy was so afraid. Grumbling to himself, Pitch marched off and soon returned holding a lit candle in a candle holder. The candlelight caused eerie shadows to loom in Jamie's room and Jamie looked over at Pitch with wide eyes.

Pitch ignored this as he went over to an oil lamp that was on a high shelf. He used the candle to light the wick and soon a much warmer glow lit up the room, causing it to feel more homey.

"I forgot that you wouldn't like the dark," Pitch said somewhat apologetically to Jamie. "And it wasn't me that caused your nightmare. Nightmares are sometimes naturally occurring, especially in a place where the Sandman's dreamsand cannot penetrate."

Jamie was sitting up in bed, clutching the covers to himself as he tried _really_ hard to calm down. But his mind kept racing with his nightmare. Since Jamie was such a strong believer, he had been under the Guardian's protection, and thus had been spared all the horrible nightmares that had been going on when Pitch was more evil. In fact, Jamie hadn't had a really bad nightmare in years.

Pitch pretended he didn't hear the sniffle as he walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"It helps if you talk about it," he said to Jamie.

Jamie's look of fear turned into an uncomfortable look as he looked down at the quilt. He shook his head.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said quietly.

Secretly, he just really wanted his stuffed bunny and his mom, but he would never tell Pitch that.

"Does it have anything to do with those hourglasses around your neck?" Pitch asked, causing Jamie to gasp and look up at him sharply. This was followed by a mad scramble to double check that he had said hourglasses.

Jamie was stunned to see that they were safe around his neck like always, as well as that one pendant that let Jamie retain his original memories. He looked at Pitch with wide eyes.

"H-how...? Why...?" Jamie asked, his voice sounding more frightened.

What if it was all a trick?! What if Pitch was pretending to be nice so he could steal the hourglasses?!

This fear clearly rang out to Pitch and he barely managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes again.

"If I had wanted them, I would have taken them long before now you foolish boy," Pitch said to Jamie with a touch of exasperation.

"..You.. you aren't going to steal them?" Jamie asked Pitch in confusion.

That had been a part of Jamie's nightmare. Pitch had stolen the hourglasses and used them to do terrible things. Nightmares had reigned over everything, and when Jamie touched them, absolutely nothing had happened. Jamie had woken up when a Nightmare was millimeters away from biting him.

"No," Pitch said to Jamie. "I have no use for them."

This made Jamie pause, since the Pitch of Last Easter had been quite eager to steal them. His brow furrowed as he looked at the Pitch seated on his bed. What had happened to Pitch between then and now? How could he be so radically different?

Jamie bit his lip as he thought. He looked back down at the quilt.

"What year is it?" he asked softly, dreading the answer.

Pitch almost said something sarcastic, when he remembered that the boy was likely not from this time.

"1974," he answered which immediately caused Jamie to gasp loudly.

"1974?!" Jamie said a touch hysterically. "I'm.. I'm not supposed to be here!"

Oh man.. Was he changing the past more?! He was going to mess everything up, he knew it!

"Especially at Pitch's..!" Jamie cried out, then caught the somewhat offended look on Pitch's face. "..No offense."

Pitch had looked a little offended but was also intrigued. He had not introduced himself, and most human children knew him by his other name, the Boogeyman. Only spirits knew his actual name, Pitch Black. Well.. it wasn't his _actual_ name, but Kozmotis Pitchiner had long ceased to exist.

"What do you know about me?" Pitch asked Jamie, causing the boy to squirm uncomfortably.

"Uh.." Jamie said, a look of panic crossing his face. "I d-don't think I should tell you. It'll like.. mess up the past and change the future even more!"

"So the future has already been changed?" Pitch said conversationally. "Interesting."

Jamie wanted to smack himself. He wasn't supposed to be telling Pitch things like that!

"In broad terms, it might help if you tell me what your mission is," Pitch said seriously to Jamie. "I might be able to help you."

Jamie gaped at Pitch Black. He couldn't believe that the _Boogeyman_ was offering to help him!

"You are obviously from the future," Pitch said, causing Jamie to gape even more. Pitch hid a smirk, as Jamie obviously hadn't caught the slip he had made about referring to this time as 'the past.' Only someone from the future would say something like that. "I'm guessing that your mission is to go to the past and.. alter something? Hm?"

Jamie sighed as he thought about the consequences of telling Pitch about his mission. This Pitch didn't know anything at all about Lillian, so.. it couldn't hurt, right? Hoping he was making the right decision, Jamie began to speak.

"Where I'm from, there's a kid who's the Spirit of Spring. She's called the Child of Spring and her name's Lillian."

Pitch looked bewildered at this since he knew for certain that there was no Child of Spring. In fact, the Spirit of Spring wasn't even female! Leif had disappeared for several years, but not long ago had resurfaced and begun to take control of Spring again. Pitch wasn't certain what had happened, but he didn't concern himself with the affairs of the Seasonals. The fact that pretty much no spirit wanted a thing to do with himself had something to do with it too.

"She, uh.." Jamie faltered, as he wondered if he should tell Pitch about their relationship. No.. better not. He didn't want Pitch to get upset or anything. "Uh.. something happened in 1968, that stopped her from being chosen as the Spring Spirit. I'm supposed to stop whatever that is and then my time in the future.. present..? Will go back to normal. Right now it's sort of a mess. Nothing's the way it should be."

Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow at all this information. One measly Spring Spirit could cause all this to happen? It seemed like a bit of overkill to bring out the Amulet of Protection for this.

"Is that why you have the amulet?" Pitch asked, wondering if Jamie even knew what it was.

"Amulet?" Jamie scrunched up his face in confusion and then brightened as he realized what Pitch was talking about. "Ohh! You mean the pendant?"

He brought it out from under his nightdress with the hourglasses, as they clinked together.

"Father Time said it would protect my memories. I was starting to forget what had happened in my time and other memories were replacing them. He managed to save me just in time. That's why I have to be the one to do it.. I'm the only one who remembers her." Jamie confided.

Pitch nodded as he studied the amulet, unsurprised by this. It was rumored to have special powers after all. Pitch shook his head as he realized that this _was_ all Father Time's doing. Meddling old coot. Of _course_ , he would send a small boy off in time without explaining what the Amulet of Protection does. If Jamie had known, he would have had it out on display and not hidden it away.

"You don't need to hide that," PItch said to Jamie. "Only the hourglasses. It might seem odd to see the chains and not see what you are wearing. I recommend that you at least keep the.. pendant.. out."

Jamie nodded thoughtfully at this.

"And you needn't worry about changing this time," Pitch chuckled. "If you are successful, then it wouldn't matter what you've said to me anyway. Time will have changed so that you wouldn't have been here in the first place."

Jamie clearly looked confused about this, but it made sense. If Lillian became the Child of Spring, then there would be no reason for Jamie to go on his quest, so anything he may have done in the past wouldn't matter anyway.

"So.. how am I supposed to find out what I'm going to change? It'd probably be better to figure it out now before I show up in 1968."

"What time specifically are you supposed to go to in 1968?" Pitch asked suspiciously.

"Easter Sunday," Jamie said.

Pitch looked unsurprised, yet perplexed at this.

"You might not be aware, but that is when there was an unexpected blizzard."

Jamie's jaw dropped at that.

"Jack wouldn't do that!" Jamie protested. "Not on the Easter Bunny's holiday!"

Pitch shook his head at this.

"You know Frost, then?"

Jamie was confused for a moment, but then reminded himself that without Lillian, Pitch probably didn't have any reason to get to know Jack better or to be nice to him.

"Yeah," Jamie nodded. "I'm his first believer.. Even with everything different!"

He added on proudly.

"How on Earth could you - " Pitch started, then stopped.

Time travel.

Right.

He tried very hard to quell the headache that all this was causing. He was starting to detest time travel.

"Clearly something important must have taken place during that day," Pitch stated as he tried to get the conversation back on track. "So why don't you go and ask this Lillian what happened? It won't matter what you say to her since you're going to change things anyway."

Jamie's eyes widened at this.

 _Ask_ her?

Why hadn't he thought of that?

* * *

Later on in the day, after a longer nap that had taken much convincing from Pitch to get Jamie to even take, Jamie found himself stumbling out of a shadow, courtesy of Pitch. Jamie had been informed that it was now Monday, but that the children had the day off from school because of the holiday.

Jamie looked around, trying to be nonchalant as he walked to the park that was near Jack's forest, where he had come out of a shadow. His first thought had been to look around the park, and then see where he could go from there. He didn't even know where Lillian used to live! He frowned a bit as he realized he didn't know anything about Lillian. Jack had happily proclaimed that he had a sister he had saved, but Lillian.. She never said anything at all about her past.

As Jamie wandered around the park, he almost didn't recognize the older girl sitting on a bench. She was much older than Jamie had ever seen her, but there was no mistaking that curly, brown hair. Her hair was down to the middle of her back, but Jamie couldn't see if her eyes were that amazing green or not because the girl had her feet up on the bench and was resting her head on her arms on her knees.

She was ignored by everyone else and Jamie thought that was so sad. Jamie quietly approached the bench and thought about how he could get his information without freaking her out too much. Jamie had almost reached the bench when a familiar accent made him freeze in his tracks.

"Hey, sheila," Bunny said as he sat down on the bench nearby her. Bunny had been double-checking some places after Easter, to make sure that belief was up and Burgess was always high on his list, especially since that terrible Easter of '68. Blasted Frost.

Lillian lifted her head and discreetly wiped her eyes. Jamie was behind them, so he couldn't see her face.

"Hey," she said softly, her voice very subdued.

"Bad day?" Bunny asked.

"I guess," Lillian replied to him, her gray eyes downcast. Even if it was the Easter Bunny, she still couldn't confide in him about her father. Her father had once again kicked her out of the house for the day, and she barely had time to grab her backpack before she found herself outside. At least today it hadn't been raining.

Jamie stared at the unlikely pair. Lillian knew the Easter Bunny?! Were they friends? How had she gotten to know him? What was he even doing here! It was after Easter!

Bunny reached out and gave her knee a pat and then pulled an Easter egg out of who-knows-where and handed it to her.

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she accepted it. It had a basket of eggs painted on it and she hugged it to herself reverently.

"I didn't see ya out with the others gettin' any eggs," Bunny said, half question, half statement. "Gettin' too old fer it?"

It was very odd, but Bunny usually didn't have any believers as old as Lillian. He was dreading the day when she would stop believing and would no longer see him.

Lillian shook her head as she tucked the egg away into the pocket of the long skirt she was wearing. She put her feet down to the ground and sat up more properly like a girl should.

"I wasn't allowed to go out," Lillian said sadly. "My dad says that's only for little kids anyway."

Bunny tsked at that.

"Tell ya what," he said as he thought of something. "How 'bout next year I give ya yer own special eggs? Everyone should get eggs on Easter."

"Really?" Lillian breathed as she looked at Bunny with wide eyes. "My own special eggs?"

Bunny chuckled and reached out to ruffle her curls affectionately.

"Really."

Jamie continued to stare and it made him wonder just how old Lillian was right now anyway. Lillian had looked really young as a spirit, and now she looked even older than Jamie! If Jamie had to guess, he figured she'd probably be around eleven or twelve or something.

Lillian was about to say something else to Bunny when the snap of a twig behind them made her pause. They both turned around to see Jamie standing there sheepishly.

"Hi?" he said hesitantly.

Bunny's eyes widened when he saw the Amulet of Protection clearly visible around Jamie's neck.

What.

The.

Before Bunny could finish that astonished thought, Jamie was speaking quickly to them.

"So like, I have this.. um.. thing I'm supposed to do, and I kinda need your guys' help." Jamie said in a rush.

Lillian paused and then recognition lit up her face.

"I know you!" she said suddenly as all sadness was instantly forgotten in her excitement. "You're Jamie! You're that kid that told me all about the Guardians and Jack Frost!"

Now it was Jamie's turn to stare in astonishment at her.

 _"What?!"_

* * *

*Remember, Death is actually Death from the Discworld books. I merely borrowed him. In my story, there is one Death that covers all the multiverse, so he would see what is going on in other dimensions and wouldn't be surprised with modern things. It would make sense, since, in one of the books, reality shifted to the modern world, indicating that the modern world does exist alongside Rincewind's world in another dimension.

**You get bonus points if you figure out where I borrowed the amulet from! Hint: It is an awesome movie and also a book. The movie covers the first half of the book.

Author's Note: I was originally going to end the chapter right after Pitch told Jamie to just ask Lillian what had happened, but I thought that would be too mean. The chapter was getting to be long enough at the point I did stop it at though, so sorry for the cliffhanger again. I make no promises to stop. :) If you'll notice, Jamie kinda wormed his way into Lillian's place at Pitch's. I imagine that Pitch still secretly longs for a family again, and so he would be more inclined to take Jamie in and help him, especially when he realized that Jamie was on a quest that might be a little too big for him.

I hope you don't mind that Jamie is getting all this help with his quest. Don't worry, even if he is getting all this help there are still parts that he has to do all by himself. I also hope the end of this chapter isn't too confusing, but don't worry if it is. Lillian will explain in the next chapter. Since Jamie is now six years after 1968, Lillian is twelve currently.


	84. Chapter 67: Jamie's Adv: Nightmare

Author's Note: I wrote a good portion of this last Sunday, but it took me some time to figure out what I wanted to happen with this chapter. Naturally, the story seems to have taken on a life of its own and things are happening that I wasn't originally planning for. Oh well, it just makes things more interesting, right? :P

Reviews:

Fenghuang0296: If you think that now, just wait until the next chapter!

Crossover Junkie: I would think so since it looks like they'll be spending some time together.

War Cry's: I PMed you but I'll answer you here too: Yes, it is Death from the Discworld series. In my fic, Death is Death for the entire multiverse. As seen in one of the books, the real world seems to co-exist alongside the Discworld universe, so I don't see why Death can't pop in from time to time.

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Jamie's Adventure: Nightmare

 _Previously:_

 _"I know you!" she said suddenly as all sadness was instantly forgotten in her excitement. "You're Jamie! You're that kid that told me all about the Guardians and Jack Frost!"_

 _Now it was Jamie's turn to stare in astonishment at her._

 _"_ What?! _"_

* * *

 _Current time: 1974_

"Ya know this kid?" Bunny asked Lillian as he turned back toward her.

Lillian nodded.

"He's Jamie Something. I met him.. um.. four..? Something like that.. Four-ish years ago. He told me all about you guys and Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter."

Bunny frowned as he glanced at Jamie with suspicion. Something wasn't adding up here.

"Why'd he tell ya about Frost?"

Lillian paused as she thought back, crinkling her forehead as she did so.

"He said something about how Jack was all by himself and he needed friends. He's really fun," Lillian said as she smiled at Bunny. "He always plays with me in the winter."

Bunny's eyes widened at that.

"You play with Jack Frost?! He's that friend ya made that you told me about?!"

Lillian's smile vanished at Bunny's outburst.

"Yes?" she said, her voice faltering a bit. "Is that.. bad?"

Jamie crossed his arms and glared a bit at the Easter Bunny. What was his problem?!

Bunny sighed as he noticed Jamie's glare and Lillian's hesitance.

"Nah.. it just.. took me by surprise, is all."

He didn't want to alienate any of his believers, especially the oldest believer he had.

Lillian's face cleared and her smile returned, though not as bright as it once was. She glanced back at Jamie and her brow furrowed again.

"Why haven't you gotten any older? You still look the same as when I last saw you."

Bunny's eyes narrowed as he heard that and he shot Jamie another suspicious look.

"Uh.." Jamie said as he wondered what he should say.

"Oh, wait!" Lillian said as a memory came to her suddenly. "You told me something else. You said that I would see you again and that I had to give you a message."

"Whoa, hold on there!" Bunny said as he raised a paw to stop Lillian. "Yer tellin' me that this kid," he said as he gestured at Jamie, "Met ya around four years ago and gave ya a message ta give ta himself later on?!"

"He said it was really important, even if it did sound a little crazy," Lillian said as she shrugged at Bunny.

Jamie didn't like the sound of this one bit. If his future time traveler self was giving his past time traveler self messages, something _bad_ must have happened. Really bad.

"What was it?" Jamie asked as he filled with dread.

"You said to watch out for.." Lillian trailed off as she thought about it. "For.."

"For who?" Jamie asked, his eyes getting wide.

Lillian's face fell.

"..I forget," she said with a sigh. "Some guy.. I think it started with a G?"

Jamie's eyes got bigger as he stared at Lillian in horror.

"G-Gethen?!" he squeaked.

"Yeah!" Lillian said as she perked up. "That was it!"

"Gethen?" Bunny muttered to himself. He had heard that name from somewhere, but where was it?

"What else did I say?" Jamie asked, trying to keep his voice steady. "Did I say what happened or why I should watch out for him?"

"..Um.." Lillian frowned as she thought about it. "Yeah.. You said to tell you 'Don't let it break.'"

"Let what break?" Jamie asked, his voice hushed as his thoughts began to race.

"You said that you'd know what you meant," Lillian said in a somewhat confused tone as even that sentence was confusing.

There was only one thing that Jamie could think of that would break that would cause him to give his past self a warning.

Oh, man..

This.. was _bad._

"Wh-what else did I say?" Jamie asked, prompting Lillian to continue.

"You said.. 'Whatever you do, do NOT go into the forest. That's what started the whole mess in the first place.'"

"What mess? What forest? When am I not supposed to go there?!" Jamie asked desperately.

Lillian shrugged.

"You didn't say.. You couldn't stay too long. You told me all about the Guardians and Jack Frost and then you said if I didn't believe you, that I should look around when it was Fall and I should see a guy painting leaves. If I believed that there was a Jack Frost, then I should believe that there's also a Spring, Summer, and Fall Spirit and I should be able to see the Fall Spirit."

"Okaaay.." Jamie said, stretching out the word to indicate his confusion. "Did I say anything else before I left?"

"Let's see.. you said.. 'Wish me luck, I'm off to kick Gethen's butt and help make a Child of Spring!'"

Jamie nearly facepalmed at that. That was probably one of the most unhelpful things he could have heard. And why was he being so cryptic about everything! He should have just had Lillian tell himself precisely what he should do. Unless he thought that the message might wind up garbled? It was a lot to ask of someone to remember a message for four years.

"Alright kid, just what are ya up ta?" Bunny asked Jamie as he crossed his arms.

Jamie gulped, but walked over by them and sat down on the bench on the other side of Lillian, being careful to avoid her backpack that was on the ground nearby.

"I'm not sure you'd believe me," he said cautiously as Bunny glared at him.

Lillian looked over at Jamie curiously. He was just as weird as she remembered, even if she was much younger the first time she met him.

"Try me," Bunny said with a challenging tone. He'd pretty much seen it all, so it would take a _lot_ to surprise him.

"Um.." Jamie said hesitantly and then decided to go for it. So all in one breath, he said very quickly, "FatherTimesentmeonamissiontogobackintimeandstopGethen - "

"Hold it!" Bunny ordered. "Take a deep breath, mate."

Jamie did as Bunny told him.

"Now, start over only talk like a normal person." Bunny commanded as Lillian giggled.

"It's sort of a long story, but I'm from the future," Jamie explained as he took out the hourglasses from under his shirt.

Lillian's grin grew wider but faded when she saw the outraged look on Bunny's face.

"WHAT?!" he thundered. "What do ya think yer doin'?!"

Jamie flinched at Bunny's tone and scooted further away from him with wide eyes.

Wow.. who knew that the Easter Bunny had such a temper?

Lillian flinched too, as though Bunny were yelling at her.

"E-Easter Bunny.." she said softly, her gaze on her hands which she had placed in her lap.

Bunny heard Lillian and his gaze instantly softened.

"Sorry," he said as he ran a paw over his head in frustration, as he tried to calm down. "I forgot that ya don't like loud voices."

He had learned not long after he first met Lillian that loud sounds or voices easily startled her. He had his suspicions that her home life wasn't that great, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He had tried questioning her once, but she refused to admit to anything and had gone quiet again. It had taken a lot of convincing the first time they met to get her to talk to him. In fact, meeting Jamie was the most he had ever heard her talk.

Bunny's gaze hardened when he looked over at Jamie however. Jamie gulped and hastily tucked the hourglasses back under his shirt.

"Father Time gave them to me," Jamie explained. "I have to go back in time to stop Gethen from changing the past. He totally messed up my time in the future and nothing is what it should be. A bunch of stuff happened and I kinda accidentally wound up in this year. I gotta get to Easter Sunday of 1968, but I need to know what happened to you then, Lillian."

Bunny glanced curiously at Lillian at that. That had been before he had met her the first time. Actually, if what she said about meeting Jamie four years ago was true, he had met her not long after that. Had Jamie helped her to believe more in the Guardians? As far as he knew, Lillian's light had always shone brightly on the globe, but he hadn't started paying attention to it until she grew older. Now he constantly watched it and while sometimes it grew dimmer, around Easter at least, it had shone very brightly.

Lillian kept her gaze on her lap as she fiddled with her fingers. She wasn't sure if she believed Jamie about the whole time traveling thing, but it would explain why he hadn't aged at all. She took a deep breath and decided that he had been right about the Guardians and Jack Frost. Even if he was weird, she could at least tell him what happened.

"I went outside to collect eggs," she told Jamie, her voice very soft now, as it always became after she was yelled at. It didn't matter that the Easter Bunny wasn't yelling at her. He had the same tone that her father often got when he was yelling at her that she was too loud, so she kept her voice soft automatically. "It got pretty cold out and started snowing, but I didn't care. I found an egg in this park and then wandered over to the woods."

"That wasn't safe ta do," Bunny said with a frown. "And at that time ya'd be what, six? Where were yer parents?"

To his and Jamie's discomfort, Lillian's eyes filled with tears and she began to cry. She covered her face with her hands as her shoulders shook.

Jamie looked shocked and then shot Bunny a look.

"I always thought you were nice," he said a little accusingly to Bunny. "Why are you being so mean?"

"I'm not being mean!" Bunny shouted, then sighed when Lillian flinched as she continued to cry. "I ain't mean, I just.."

Bunny shook his head and sighed again.

"Look, I'm sorry.. I didn't mean ta make ya cry." he said as he reached out and gave Lillian's shoulder an awkward pat.

Lillian flinched again, hard, and then froze as she stopped crying suddenly. Bunny hastily removed his paw and it was a few moments before Lillian lowered her hands. Her eyes were red from crying and her face a little blotchy. She pulled a clean handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the wetness away from her cheeks before she blew her nose and put the handkerchief away again.

There was silence for a very long moment as the two males looked at her anxiously, obviously lost on what to do with a crying girl.

Lillian opened her mouth and then closed it again. She took a deep breath and tried to continue on, but her wobbly voice was hardly audible now. Why was everything so hard for her?

"I found an egg a little ways in," she said as she kept her gaze averted from Bunny. She didn't want to see how angry he was with her for doing something so stupid. If she had bothered looking, she would have only seen concern, however. "I wanted to go in more, but then I heard a noise that scared me. It sounded like howling, so I turned around and went back home."

Jamie was quiet as he considered this. Was that meant to happen? Or was that something Gethen did to get her to go away?

"Would you have gone in if you hadn't heard anything?" Jamie asked her curiously.

She silently nodded and then checked the time on an old watch she was wearing. It had been several hours since she had first come to this park and her father would be looking for lunch soon. She stood up from the bench and grabbed her backpack, slinging it over a shoulder.

"I have to go," she said, her voice still very soft as she didn't look at either of them.

"Wait!" Bunny and Jamie both said simultaneously.

But Lillian didn't wait as she hurried away from them, not looking back.

Jamie felt frustrated as he watched her go. He felt like he hadn't learned much of anything, and he didn't know how to get back in contact with her.

"Do you know where she lives?" Jamie suddenly turned to Bunny, a look of determination on his face.

Bunny looked surprised at the look Jamie was giving him, but then he remembered that Jamie _was_ wearing the amulet. Maybe the kid had something that other kids didn't.

Bunny nodded at Jamie.

"Can you show me?" Jamie asked Bunny. "Please?"

Bunny looked off in the direction Lillian had disappeared to, only to not see her anymore. She must have turned a corner and vanished from their sight.

"I don't think we should follow her," he said after a moment.

Jamie made a frustrated noise.

"I don't want to follow her, I just want to know where she lives!" he said, almost stamping a foot in agitation.

Bunny raised an eyebrow at Jamie's almost temper tantrum, and Jamie instantly relented. Temper tantrums weren't his thing, and he was far too old for them.

"I'm sorry," Jamie said with an apologetic look, "But it's really important. I have to know."

Bunny heaved a big sigh. Today just wasn't going to be his day.

"Fine," he finally said. "But ya keep quiet and don't let the anklebiter know that we followed her."

Jamie eagerly nodded and followed after Bunny as they walked the short ways from the park to Lillian's house.

* * *

They reached Lillian's house in no time at all, and Jamie blinked in surprise as he stared at it. Lillian lived in the creepiest house in Burgess?! The one that all the kids avoided on Halloween?

"She lives _here?_ " Jamie asked Bunny as he looked at the rotting porch steps and the roof that looked a little leaky in places.

"Yep," Bunny said and then winced as shouting started up from the house.

Jamie couldn't hear exactly what was being said, but he could hear a man's voice that sounded quite angry. He waited to hear a reply from Lillian, but after the shouting ceased he didn't hear anything. Jamie was tempted to stick around and spy on her for a bit, but Bunny was already herding him away.

"We should get goin'," Bunny hastily said.

He had wanted to stick around and make sure Lillian was alright, but Jamie was still a young boy and he didn't like the tone that man in the house had. He didn't want to subject Jamie to any of that. He thought perhaps if he could get Jamie to go somewhere safe, then he could open up one of his tunnels to the inside of the house, just to see.

"But - " Jamie protested as he obviously was having the same thoughts as Bunny. He wanted to make sure Lillian was alright.

"I'll go check on her later," Bunny reassured Jamie. "Besides, don't ya have stuff that you should do?"

"I wanted to see her again," Jamie admitted. "She's a lot different than the Lillian I knew."

Bunny was tempted to ask what she was like, but he knew it was a bad idea to mess with the past. Jamie meanwhile, was lost in his thoughts. This Lillian that had grown up a little was nothing like the Lillian he had known. The Lillian he knew was outgoing and outspoken. She was playful, yet serious. She had a definite love for spring too.

The Lillian Jamie had just met, however..

She seemed so _sad._ She was so withdrawn and quiet, and when Bunny had yelled she had hardly been able to talk afterward. The Lillian Jamie had known would have yelled right back at Bunny, but this Lillian just went quiet.

It wasn't right.

This wasn't right at all!

Jamie glanced back at the dilapidated house as Bunny led him away. Before he continued on his mission, he wanted to do something for this Lillian. After all, who knew how long it would take him to succeed? The least he could do was help to take some of this Lillian's sadness away.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Bunny said as he glanced back at Jamie cautiously. "Yer already changin' things. Ya shouldn't change any more."

Jamie frowned at Bunny.

"It won't matter what I say when I get things back on track. This won't have happened anyway."

Bunny frowned back at Jamie. While this was technically true, he supposed, he still didn't like the sound of it.

"It ain't a good idea," he cautioned Jamie. "Yer messin' with things ya don't know anything about and ya don't know what the consequences could be."

"I don't care," Jamie said stubbornly. "I just want to make her happy. What's so wrong with that?"

Bunny narrowed his eyes at Jamie.

"What exactly are ya goin' ta tell her?"

Jamie still had that stubborn look on his face as he looked at Bunny.

"I want to tell her about the life she should have had."

* * *

A few hours later, Lillian left the house. She had a red mark on her cheek that she was sure would bruise as it felt quite sore. She glanced wistfully in the direction of the park after she had navigated her way down the front porch steps, but she knew better than to head that way - not now. She instead turned in the opposite direction and trudged off towards the small grocery store. They were pretty much out of food and her father hadn't appreciated the vegetable soup she had made, which was one of the few things she knew how to cook.

In reality, she just dumped a bunch of vegetables into a pot of boiling water and let them soften up and sort of make their own broth. It was easy to make, and with all the vegetables it was healthy to eat. But her father didn't appreciate it and so after throwing his first bowl in agitation and smacking her for it, he grudging had eaten his second bowl and then had her clean everything top to bottom.

Lillian had scoured the whole kitchen to within an inch of its life and then cleaned the floors as best she could. She had tidied upstairs a bit, but she was orderly, unlike her father, and didn't have much to do. When she returned home from shopping, she would clean all the floors upstairs and then dust everything. If she had time after that, maybe she could go see if that weird Jamie and the Easter Bunny were still at the park.

She sighed as she wearily walked and placed her hands into the pockets of her long skirt. She was surprised her father had any money at all for groceries, as usually, he frittered all their money away. Lillian had a very small stash of money she had managed to hide from her father, that she saved from the bits and pieces of money he gave her for various errands sometimes. It was their only emergency stash, in case they had no money for food and Lillian had yet to dip into it this month, so she was grateful for that.

She glanced up at the cloudless sky as she silently considered that it might be time for her to get a job. She was planning on leaving as soon as she turned eighteen and she'd need the money to leave. She wondered what sort of job she could get - her father always told her how useless she was, and how she wasn't good at anything.

Her shoulders slumped a little as her gaze returned back to the ground. Maybe he was right. She certainly wasn't any good at cooking, and she couldn't even sew properly. All she could do was mend her clothes the best she should, and that wasn't very good in her opinion. Or her classmates'. Her cheeks turned rosy in embarrassment as she glanced down at the end of her skirt which was fraying and already had a few patches on it. Unable to afford anything new, Lillian was forced to get all her things second hand. The kids at Lillian's school had always teased her for it, and Lillian secretly hoped that they were all on the Naughty List.

A shadow fell over her while she walked and she glanced upwards in surprise as she saw that clouds had seemingly appeared out of nowhere to block out the sun. Gloom seemed to settle on the day, and Lillian frowned a little at it. The day had been perfect, but now it was turning a little colder with the sun covered up like that. She was so busy frowning at the clouds that she failed to see the pair of malevolent yellow eyes watching her from the shade of a few trees.

The eyes narrowed at Lillian, but by the time Lillian was looking ahead again, they had vanished. The owner of the eyes knew that the time was not yet right.

But it didn't mind.

It could wait.

* * *

Lillian had trudged to the store and back home again, and put away the groceries. In that time her father had managed to fall asleep, and Lillian knew she couldn't continue cleaning until after he was done with his nap. It was never a good thing to accidentally wake him up.

After Lillian had put the groceries away she quietly tiptoed out of the house and leaped down the last few steps on the porch. They were the noisest, so it was best just to jump right over them. She landed easily and then took off running to the park. She hoped that Jamie and the Easter Bunny were still there!

Unbeknownst to her, Bunny had already checked up on her and left again. He had peered in through a window to see her washing dishes by hand in the sink, finding her very absorbed in her task. He had watched her for several minutes, but nothing eventful had happened and he soon left. Some of Lillian's curls had slipped from their usual ribbon and hung down over her face. Otherwise, he might have seen the darkening mark on her face from where her father had hit her.

But Bunny hadn't seen or heard anything unusual, and while he had his suspicions, he had no proof. He had gone back to Jamie afterward and told him that everything was fine. He suggested yet again that Jamie not speak to Lillian anymore and that he continue on with his mission. The sooner time stopped being changed, the better in Bunny's opinion. Jamie had nodded and Bunny told Jamie he had to get going - there was a Guardians' meeting soon and Bunny had much to report.

So by the time Lillian had made her way back to the park, Jamie was sitting alone on the bench. He had pulled his knees up to his chest as Lillian had done earlier and was looking very disheartened. Lillian stopped walking at the sight of him, and couldn't help but wonder if she had looked like that when she was there earlier.

She walked towards him and sat down next to him on the bench.

"Hi," she said quietly to Jamie.

"Hey," Jamie replied, then blinked and looked over at her as he lowered his feet down to the ground and sat up straighter. "You came back."

Lillian noted Jamie's surprised tone and shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Jamie ran a hand through his hair as he thought how to answer, but Lillian continued to talk.

"You helped me believe in the Guardians," she said simply to him.

Jamie thought of telling her what Bunny had said, that he shouldn't talk to her anymore, but he didn't want Lillian to get mad at Bunny or to hurt her belief any. He wasn't sure how this Lillian would react to it.

"I wanted to tell you something," Jamie said as he gathered his thoughts. "Remember how I said I was from the future?"

Lillian nodded as she watched Jamie. He had tucked those strange necklaces back under his shirt, except for the weird snake one. She wasn't sure she liked it since the snakes looked strange to her.

"Ok, so.. In the time I'm from, things are very different. This bad guy, Gethen, he found out how to go back into the past and change things. He changed _your_ past, Lillian. All these things that have been going on since the Easter of 1968 weren't supposed to happen."

Lillian's jaw dropped at that.

"Wh-what?" she breathed, as she stared at Jamie with wide eyes.

"I thought.. Maybe you'd want to know what was supposed to happen. What your life was really supposed to be like."

Jamie gave Lillian a friendly smile as Lillian continued to stare at him. The surprised look was replaced by a look of longing. She _really_ wanted to know. But that look was soon replaced by a sad one. She shook her head. With her luck, she would never see it happen. There was no point in getting her hopes up.

"I don't think you should," she said with a sigh to Jamie. "I can't stay long anyway.. My dad might not be taking a long nap, and he'll want me home now. I have chores to finish."

"But - " Jamie said with a look of frustration. If only Lillian could know how awesome her life was supposed to be, she'd be so happy!

"Sorry," Lillian said as she stood back up. "Maybe some other time."

"Lillian," Jamie said, his voice rising in his frustration.

Lillian flinched a little and hurried back off. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the future anymore. For a brief moment she really wanted to know, but now the thought was sort of frightening. What if it wasn't good? Or what if it was so good, but then Jamie was never able to fix things? She might spend her whole life waiting for that life that was never going to happen.

Jamie crossed his arms and pouted as Lillian left. And that's where Pitch found him when he returned as the sun was mostly gone and darkness was setting in.

"I thought you might have continued on with your mission," Pitch said lightly as he stepped out of the shadows behind Jamie's bench.

"Hmph," Jamie grumped. "I wanted to make Lillian happier, but she didn't want to listen to me!"

Pitch paused and shot Jamie a look of confusion.

"I thought you were trying to gather information," he said cautiously to Jamie.

"Yeah, I did," Jamie said, still sounding grumpy. "But then I wanted to tell Lillian all about what was supposed to happen in her future, but the Easter Bunny didn't want me to. I was going to anyway, but then she didn't want to hear it!"

It took Pitch a moment to process this and when he did, he took in a sharp breath. That did _not_ sound like a good idea. At all.

"Why would you want that?" he asked, trying to not have his tone be accusatory. He had to remember that Jamie was only a child, and perhaps he wouldn't see the impulsiveness of this.

"I wanted to make her happy," Jamie said with a sigh. "She seemed so sad. She's not at all like the Lillian I remembered."

Pitch recalled hearing a fear a few hours ago and wondered if it had been Lillian's. It had been so cryptic at the time.

 _What if it never happens?  
_

Now it suddenly made sense to him. He wondered again who this Lillian could be, that she would be so important to Jamie. He shook his head and looked around again at the gathering darkness.

"Well, it is much too late for you to do anything now," Pitch said. "Why don't you come with me, and we'll get you to bed."

Jamie glanced back at Pitch in shock.

"What?" he asked. "You're.. letting me stay with you?"

Pitch was almost insulted at the surprised tone, but he remembered that most children feared the Boogeyman. However, he noted that Jamie wasn't exactly frightened of him at the moment. Jamie seemed surprised that the Boogeyman was capable of being nice.

Of course, Pitch could be nice when he wanted to be!

He just didn't want to, most times.

Instead of answering, Pitch helped Jamie up from the bench and before another word could be said, Jamie was pulled into a shadow.

* * *

They reappeared back in Pitch's globe room with Jamie shivering. Dinner with tea made the shivers go away and the awfulness of that shadow fade. Jamie _hated_ shadow travel.

Soon it was time for bed and the fight over Jamie's nightdress ensued. Pitch didn't see what the big deal was, as most of his fashion sense came from the 1800's, considering he still thought cloaks were in style, and Jamie was adamant that he wasn't wearing a nightgown.

"No way!" Jamie said stubbornly as he crossed his arms. "Those are for _girls._ "

"You wore one earlier today," Pitch said as he tried to remain calm.

"Only because I woke up in one!" Jamie retorted.

"I don't have anything else for you," Pitch said as he frowned at the boy. Honestly!

"I can sleep in my clothes," Jamie said stubbornly.

"Oh no you can't," Pitch said as he wrinkled his nose at the thought.

"Sure I can," Jamie said.

Pitch never thought he'd sit there and argue with a child, but the fight had continued on for far longer than he wanted it to. Finally just to shut the boy up, it was agreed that Jamie could sleep in his clothes, just this once. Pitch would make proper pajamas for the boy when he had the time.

Jamie shifted under the covers as he was rather uncomfortable, but he'd never tell Pitch that. He watched as Pitch fetched a book from the shelf and sat down on the edge of the bed. He sleepily closed his eyes as Pitch's smooth voice washed over him, sending him into dreams of fairy tales.

Pitch continued reading aloud to Jamie until he was sure the boy was deeply asleep. Then he put the book away and proceeded to change Jamie into the nightdress before tucking him in. He folded Jamie's clothes and put them on the shelves across from the bed.

Pitch gave a satisfied smirk as he looked at the boy.

The boy actually thought he'd won the argument.

* * *

As night continued on, in another part of town Lillian was upstairs in bed herself. She had gotten ready for bed and was wearing her own nightgown. She had fallen asleep rather quickly, so she hadn't noticed the pair of yellow eyes staring at her through her window. The owner of the eyes quickly snuck in through a crack in the window and soon there was a Nightmare standing in Lillian's room.

The nightmare snorted as it saw the golden dream over the girl's head. The dream showed her playing with Jack Frost and the Easter Bunny happily. It walked over to her and suddenly swirled into a cloud of black sand as it invaded the golden dream.

Lillian flinched in her sleep as her golden dream turned black as night and the images began to change.

* * *

Pitch had gone out on his rounds soon after Jamie fell asleep and soon he was unknowingly in Lillian's room. He had kept an eye on this girl over the years. It was in 1967 when he had become more aware of her. She had been sobbing into her pillow as though her world had ended, and Pitch didn't have the heart to give her a nightmare that night. Over the years, Pitch kept an eye on her from time to time.

The nightmares he gave her were much more gentle than the ones he gave other children - if he even gave her any at all. Most nights he wound up tucking her in and petting her hair if she were having a natural nightmare on her own. The girl had a disturbing amount of nightmares that weren't his doing after that year, and Pitch found himself checking in on her more regularly.

Now he stood frowning in her room as he saw the black sand swirling over her head. She was whimpering in her sleep as she twisted under the covers. Pitch walked over as he stared at the dark images forming over Lillian's head. He recognized the blasted Easter Bunny, but who was this other? Then a dark snowball was thrown, and he knew. Frost.

It looked like they were yelling at Lillian in her dream and Jack threw a snowball in her face. He waved his staff threateningly at her while Bunny meanly shoved her to the ground.

Pitch's frown grew as he realized what was going on. Someone or _something_ was trying to hurt this child's belief by giving her nightmares of a Guardian being cruel to her. Pitch's first thought was why hadn't he thought of that?

But he shook his head and banished that dark thought away. He studied the black sand more. He had seen this once, a very long time ago. As he reached out for the black sand, it suddenly reared up as the dream ended over Lillian's head and it formed back into a monstrous looking Nightmare. The Nightmare regarded a shocked Pitch and stepped closer to him.

As it did so, Pitch's eyes began to darken.

* * *

Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. Ok, ok! I can hear you all going: Wait! Pitch didn't start experimenting with the black sand this early! How are Nightmares here?! I can't tell you right now, but it _will_ be explained. Hopefully in the next chapter! But if not, then soon.

So yeah. This chapter ran away on me. Jamie was only supposed to be here briefly, but then I had the thought: What if _this_ happened? And so 1974 went from the two chapters, to many more. I'm having so much fun with this though that I don't see Jamie's Adventure ending anytime soon. I'll continue to label each chapter with "Jamie's Adventure" for those that want to read it. After that, I'll probably go back to normal chapter titles. I think once things settle down again, I'll explore more with Pitch painting. Lillian also needs to continue her book and I already have an idea for the next plot after this one.

I love reading all your guys' feedback. So please continue to review! I want to give a special thanks to all the follows and faves too. It's you and the reviewers that encourage me to continue on with this story.


	85. Chapter 68:Jamie's Adv:Pitched in Drknes

Author's Note: Sorry, I would have come out with this on Friday but I had some trouble writing this chapter. I hope you guys like where the plot is going and that it isn't too predictable. We'll eventually get on with the time traveling part, but I am having too much fun in 1974 right now.

Reviews:

Fenghuang0296: Sandy has a lot of development in the books, I believe. I'll touch more on him once I've actually read that far in them. Sandy is very, very old. Actually, they all are. The book plots take place a long time before the movie. I'm having fun including things from the books/internet/movie and kinda meshing them all together. I won't forget about Sandy, I promise. As for future flashback arcs, maybe I'll save that for when I'm finished with the current flashback interludes. Don't want too many flashbacks at once. :)

Crossover Junkie: Is Pitch being badass enough for you? :P Thanks for the dialogue help by the way. You helped me realize I had a plothole going on since I forgot that Pitch should be suspicious on why Jamie knows all about the Nightmares. I actually wound up rewriting the section that I used your dialogue in. In the first version of that scene, I had it very vague since I thought it would be more dramatic that way but then I wanted to include some of your dialogue so it inspired me to expand that scene and make it more descriptive. So thanks!

Guest: I responded to you in a guest review of my own, since at the time I wasn't finished writing this chapter and wanted to respond right away. I managed to repost the chapter that had gotten messed up. I'm not sure how it got swapped like that since it was still correctly labeled but had the wrong text. Fanfiction was being weird, I suppose. Anyway, as I said in my review if you see any more swapped chapters, please let me know!

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Jamie's Adventure: Pitched in Darkness

 _Current time: 1974_

Pitch reached out a hand to touch the Nightmare as it approached him. He paused, however, when he heard a whimper coming from the girl on the bed. He looked over at her and could see that she was crying in her sleep. She also seemed to be waking up.

A look of uncertainty crossed over his face. This was the child he had looked out for all those years. He didn't want to cause her any -

The Nightmare stamped its hoof and snorted, causing Pitch to jerk his attention back to it. It looked Pitch in the eye and Pitch's expression cleared. He stroked the Nightmare's mane and saw a flash of an image - a man with dark hair and eyes, and a cruel expression on his face - and then the image was gone.

Pitch frowned at that. He was pretty sure he knew precisely who that was and that man should _not_ be meddling with Nightmares.

"Are there more of you?" Pitch questioned the Nightmare softly.

The Nightmare tossed its head and gave an affirmative snort. Of course, there were more of them. Much more.

Pitch couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Take me to them," he commanded the Nightmare. "We have much to do."

The Nightmare led Pitch outside where Pitch mounted it and then it galloped away and in a flash, they were gone.

Not long after they left, Lillian woke up to feel tears on her cheeks. She sat up with a sniffle and looked around. Her room looked so dark and the furniture made scary shapes. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she thought about the awful dream she had.

In it, the Easter Bunny and Jack Frost had been yelling at her, much the same as her father did. They were calling her names and Jack had even thrown a snowball right in her face. It had all seemed so real.

More tears fell as she remembered how the Easter Bunny had yelled earlier that day. It didn't seem too farfetched that he would yell at her too. Maybe he didn't mean it when he said he'd make her special eggs for next year. Maybe Jack Frost didn't really like her either.

As Lillian's shoulders shook as she buried her face in her knees, her light on the globe, which had once shone so brightly started to become dim.

* * *

Pitch soon found himself in a clearing where dozens of Nightmares had gathered. He had dismounted from the one that had taken him there and he walked among them, his expression quite confused. He had no idea where they had all come from.

Of course, the Nightmares were the reason that he became Pitch Black in the first place, and a very, _very_ long time ago he had used them against those blasted Guardians and their friends. However, the Nightmares had long since ceased to exist* and Pitch had gone from trying to defeat the Guardians, to concentrating more on spreading nightmares. Even he realized that the balance had to remain. Everyone needed a touch of fear, and he continued to do so.. Not to quell the children's belief, but because they needed their nightmares to grow.

Pitch had yet to figure out how to recreate the Nightmares that had once been his allies against the Guardians, but he had grown distracted from that over the years. Now as he looked at the Nightmares before him, a cruel smirk formed on his face.

It had been a long time since he had felt the urge to plot. As he ordered the Nightmares to go around and spread their fear, his mind couldn't help but wander to the boy who was asleep in his lair. He could tell that the boy's belief was very strong.

Maybe he could find a way to use that against the Guardians.

* * *

The next day, the Guardians were all frantic. The aurora had turned on very early in the morning and all the Guardians had assembled as soon as they could.

"Is terrible!" North declared as he gestured at the globe. "The lights are all going dim around Burgess!"

Tooth gasped as she saw all the dim lights radiating out from Burgess.

"Oh no!" she said as she stared at it. "What could have happened? We just had Easter!"

Golden images appeared over Sandy's head to tell them that he hadn't noticed anything unusual when he was at Burgess at the beginning of the night. Something must have happened after he left.

Bunny didn't say anything as he was frantically scanning Burgess for two very important lights. He saw one shining brightly, but the other..

"No!" Bunny gasped when he saw the light of one of his oldest believers.

It had gone so dim! Just like all the others!

"Bunny?" North asked as he placed a hand on Bunny's shoulder.

Bunny's shoulders slumped, but then he straightened back up.

"I gotta get ta Burgess and find out what happened," he told the others.

"What if it's a trap?" Tooth asked frantically as her wings whirled a mile a minute.

North nodded in agreement.

"I have a feeling in my belly," he declared.

Sandy made a golden image of Pitch over his head and Bunny scoffed at that.

"No one's seen Pitch Black since the dark ages!" he said to Sandy.

In response, Sandy gestured to all the dim lights on the globe. This sure looked like Pitch's handiwork.

"I'll let ya know what I find out when I get back from checkin' on Lillian," Bunny said as he tapped his foot on the ground and jumped down into his tunnel.

Sandy looked at the spring flower that appeared once the tunnel closed up with an apprehensive expression on his face.

* * *

After searching around frantically, Bunny finally found Lillian walking on her way to school. He raced over to her, startling her in the process.

"Lillian!" he exclaimed as he took a hold of her shoulders to face her towards him.

He noticed that she looked very tired and sad before she flinched and drew away from him. She looked up at Bunny with an expression he never expected to see on a child looking at him. She looked a little afraid.

"What happened? What's wrong?" he demanded.

Lillian looked down at her feet as Bunny was practically yelling at her. This was starting to turn out a lot like the dream she had.

"I'll be late for school," she said softly to him.

"Wait!" Bunny exclaimed, but Lillian hurried away from him.

Bunny growled in frustration and then went around to other kids, but they all reacted the same as Lillian. Instead of joy at seeing the Easter Bunny, they got scared looks on their faces and hurried away from him.

One kid had declared him a meanie and even kicked him in the knee! Bunny grumbled to himself as he limped a bit while rubbing his poor knee. What had gotten into the little anklebiters? If only he knew where Jamie was staying, then he could check on him too.

* * *

Jamie had woken up to the smell of breakfast cooking and it smelled _wonderful._ So wonderful in fact, that he almost didn't notice that he was wearing that nightgown again. He pouted as he did notice though and then quickly went about changing back into his clothes. He noticed that he had a new set to wear today, and as promised, there were some boy pajamas on the shelves too.

Jamie wondered where Pitch had gotten these clothes, as they looked just like the ones you'd buy at the store. He left his room and noticed that there was a little more light around now. Pitch had thoughtfully set up some oil lamps so Jamie wouldn't stumble into anything in the dark. After a bit of trial and error, Jamie soon found his way to the kitchen and sat down at the table.

Soon he had a mug of tea with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon before him. He noticed Pitch had made himself some oatmeal with tea. Jamie was a little amused that Pitch seemed so obsessed with tea, but he didn't mind. He supposed there were worse things to drink.

Pitch was a little quiet as they ate, and Jamie regarded him thoughtfully. Then Jamie mentally shrugged. Maybe Pitch wasn't much of a morning person? He was the Boogeyman, after all.

"So I found some stuff out, and I kinda think I know what I have to do," Jamie said as he started to eat his breakfast.

"Oh?" Pitch said as he raised a non-existent eyebrow. "What might that be?"

Jamie looked over at Pitch. He could tell Pitch was really interested and it made him pause. Should he trust Pitch with this? Pitch had been so nice to him lately, and he didn't steal his hourglasses at all. Making up his mind, Jamie continued to talk.

"Well, you know that Lillian's the Child of Spring in my time. I guess when she was a kid, she almost went into a forest looking for Easter eggs, but then she heard something and changed her mind. I think she has to go into the forest. So all I have to do is figure out how to stop Gethen without going into the forest."

Pitch froze in mid-bite of his oatmeal.

 _Gethen._

He recalled the brief image he'd gotten from the Nightmare and his fist clenched around his spoon. His face darkened a little before he adopted a more calm expression and resumed eating.

Jamie had observed all this with interest.

"Do you know him?" he asked Pitch.

"We've.. become acquainted," Pitch answered evasively. "Why must you not go into this forest?"

Jamie's expression turned troubled as he pushed his eggs around on his plate.

"It's sort of hard to explain, but I gave Lillian a message to give to myself in this time. She told me that no matter what, I shouldn't go into the forest. She also said I told her 'don't let it break.' I think Gethen does something really bad, and I was trying to prevent it from happening."

"Interesting," Pitch replied as he took a long drink of his tea. He eyed the boy across from him who still looked very troubled. He had so many fears at the moment and Pitch was hard pressed to hide a smirk. "What will you do now?"

"I don't know," Jamie said, sounding quite young. "I suppose I should go to 1968, but I don't want to mess it up."

"I think I have an idea," Pitch said slowly as if just thinking of something.

"You do?" Jamie asked, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

Pitch nodded.

"I have something that could help you, but it will have to wait until tonight."

"Why tonight?" Jamie asked.

"I'm very tired and I need to rest now," Pitch said as he tried to keep his voice neutral. Best not to give anything away too soon.

"Oh," Jamie said as he sounded a little disappointed. What was he supposed to do for the whole day while Pitch was sleeping?

"Don't worry," Pitch said calmly. "It will be dark before you know it."

* * *

Bunny had returned back to the North Pole with the disturbing news that it seemed like all the believers were afraid of him. The Guardians all exchanged looks at that. This had never happened to them before.

"Even Lillian was afraid of me," Bunny said dejectedly. "She practically ran away from me."

Sandy patted Bunny on the arm and a few golden images appeared over his head.

"You'll make her have good dreams of me?" Bunny asked as he saw the golden images.

Sandy nodded and gave Bunny a thumbs up.

Bunny couldn't help but feel a little hopeful at that. Would a few good dreams really make everything alright?

* * *

Lillian soon found herself back in her room, once again in her nightgown. She was sitting up in bed and had her knees pulled up to her chest. Her light was off after she had begged her father to leave it on, and now the lightbulb was removed.

She stared with wide eyes over at the window. The moon was blocked out by clouds, making the night seem even darker and more sinister.

She stifled a gasp as she thought she saw a shadow dart past the window. She heard a loud noise from somewhere and threw the covers over her head.

Sandy found her not long after that. He had easily opened her window and floated inside, to see a shivering lump on the bed that he assumed was Lillian. He noted how afraid she was and couldn't help but think that this sounded exactly like Pitch Black.

He walked over to her bed and gently pulled the covers back. Lillian whimpered in fear and had her eyes shut very tightly, as though if she couldn't see whatever it was that was in her room, it couldn't see her. Sandy sat down on the edge of her bed and gently patted her on the arm until she finally opened her eyes.

Her curls were a little wild from being under the covers and her eyes widened in fear when she saw who it was. She backed away from Sandy and pressed herself against the headboard.

"Don't give me bad dreams!" she said a little shrilly. "The Easter Bunny said you would!"

Sandy blinked at that and cocked his head. That didn't sound like something that Bunny would say at all. Sandy had been about ready to make a ball of dreamsand to send her off to sleep, but now he knew that it would make her more afraid.

As Sandy looked at her in confusion, he saw something that made him frown. He gently reached out and held her chin, running a thumb gently over the bruise he saw on her face. A golden question mark appeared over his head, clearly asking her how she got it.

Lillian flinched and jerked away from him, nearly falling out of bed in the process.

"L-Leave me alone!" she said, as she did get out of bed and back away from him. She moved toward the window and Sandy's eyes widened when he saw a shadow loom up behind her.

He pointed frantically at the window, but Lillian didn't understand. She was about to say something to Sandy when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

Sandy stared in despair as Lillian was swept out of the room with a shriek of terror. But soon that look was replaced with determination.

He would get her back.

* * *

Jamie followed Pitch to the edge of town once Pitch had gotten up for the night. He didn't want to admit it, but everything looked pretty creepy in the dark. Pitch smirked as he lead Jamie far away from houses and from anyone that could help him. The foolish boy thought he actually had a plan to help him out!

Jamie glanced back again as he followed after Pitch. He thought he heard something, but he didn't see anything behind them.

"Where are we going anyway?" he asked Pitch as they walked further away from town.

"Don't worry, we're almost there," Pitch replied as he spotted a particularly dark spot up ahead.

"What's that?" Jamie asked as he saw the dark spot as well.

There was a terrifying whinny and soon dark shadows were racing right towards them. Before Jamie knew what was happening, they were completely surrounded by Nightmares.

Jamie stared around wildly at all the Nightmares.

"Nightmares?! H-How..?!

Pitch grabbed Jamie's arm but paused after that. How did the boy know about them or what they were called?

"What do you know about Nightmares?" he demanded.

Jamie stared up at Pitch and swallowed. In the dark, he seemed so much bigger and more dangerous.

"Answer me!" Pitch said harshly as he shook Jamie a little.

"..I.. what?" Jamie said, in a small, confused voice.

"The Nightmares made of black sand! What do you know about them?"

Pitch said as he narrowed his eyes at the boy.

Jamie looked up at Pitch with wide eyes. He'd never seen Pitch be so scary before!

"..I don't think.." Jamie began, but Pitch gave him another jarring shake that cut him off in mid-sentence.

"It won't matter what you tell me if you succeed in your mission," Pitch reminded Jamie impatiently. "Tell me!"

Jamie found himself blurting out everything. Once he'd realized what he'd done, it made him want to cringe.

"In my time you used Nightmares to try and take over the world! I-I don't know what they're doing here now," Jamie said in a quavering voice to Pitch. "I don't know if they're supposed to be here this early or not."

Pitch looked down at Jamie, his yellowish golden eyes seeming to almost glow in the dark. It was by far one of the creepiest things Jamie had ever seen.

The Nightmares still had them surrounded but were a distance away, trapping them but not being too close.

Pitch's expression slowly changed from a rather vicious narrow-eyed look to one more of concern. He loosened his tight hold on Jamie and looked for a moment as if he wanted to say something to the boy. He looked around at all the Nightmares surrounding them and Jamie saw that Pitch almost looked.. afraid.

Even though Jamie's heart was pounding harder than it ever had and he was certain that this was one of the scariest moments he'd ever had, a small part of him couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

"..No.." Pitch whispered as he stared around at the Nightmares. "No.. I.. I thought I had it under control..**"

"Had what under control?" Jamie asked as he tried to keep his voice from trembling.

 _What's going to happen to me?!_

Jamie's fear practically screamed at Pitch, but before Pitch had a chance to say anything more, the Nightmares formed a tighter circle around the both of them. Jamie could almost feel the evil pouring off of them and as they drew closer, Pitch's look of almost fear vanished and he tightened his grip on Jamie once again.

"Never you mind," Pitch said as he looked down at Jamie with a cold, calculating look that had Jamie shivering. A malevolent grin slowly spread on Pitch's face, that made Jamie want to run away.

"You would make a powerful ally," Pitch said as he beckoned the Nightmares ever closer. "Imagine, a powerful believer entrusted with the most important mission. What would the Guardians say if you suddenly.. had a change in faith?"

Jamie gulped as Pitch's grin grew wider and he tried really hard to dredge up some courage.

"I'll _never_ help you!" Jamie declared.

As he said that, he remembered the effect his touch had on the Nightmares and he reached out towards them. They were stopped just short of his fingertips, however, and he couldn't reach them.

While Jamie's attention was focused on the Nightmares, he failed to notice the glint of a dark blade. With the moon blocked by the clouds, it was difficult to see much of anything.

As Jamie tried in vain to reach out towards the Nightmares, he began to realize that Pitch's plan involved something far more sinister than he had thought. When he felt the sharp sting of a blade on his arm, he cried out and looked up at Pitch in horror.

While Sandy raced out into the night, desperate to save a child, he never realized that there was another in desperate danger.

As Sandy rushed off to save Lillian, he never heard Jamie's terrified scream as a cloud of Nightmares surrounded him, determined to find a way to change his light.

* * *

Bunny wound up staying at the Pole that night, alternating between pacing in front of the globe and staring at Lillian's light intensely. Was it getting dimmer? Or brighter?

He grumbled as he paced and looked at all the other dim lights in Burgess. How could all of this happen in one night?! Shouldn't the lights be getting brighter by now? Surely Sandy was giving all the children good dreams about the Guardians.

Bunny stopped pacing to look intently at the globe again. This time he wasn't looking at poor Lillian's dim light. No, he was looking at the one bright light in all of Burgess. But now that light seemed to not be getting dim, but getting darker.

Bunny stared as the light started to turn as dark as night.

* * *

An exhausted Sandy turned up in the middle of the night to enlist Bunny and North's help. Tooth was off directing her fairies from her palace, and as far as she knew, everything was fine.

Sandy had golden symbols flashing over his head to tell them that everything was _not_ fine. In fact, everything was all wrong!

"What do ya mean a Nightmare kidnapped her?!" Bunny roared as he deciphered Sandy's symbols. "Where did it take her?!"

Sandy shrugged helplessly as he told North and Bunny that he tried to follow after, but the Nightmare had vanished by the time he made it outside. He had no idea where the Nightmare could have gone. Once again he made the golden symbol of Pitch over his head and Bunny growled.

"We must find her," North said. "We will have to spread out over Burgess and look everywhere. Is not been long since she was taken, no? The Nightmare could not have gotten far."

"That's not all," Bunny said as he gestured at the globe. "See that light?"

North and Sandy looked at the globe and their eyes widened.

"What is happening to that child?!" North cried out in distress.

"I dunno," Bunny said, "but that light belongs ta that kid. That Jamie."

Sandy looked even more worried at that. He remembered how Bunny had said that Jamie had hourglasses from Father Time. In the wrong hands that could be devastating!

* * *

It was daytime now and Lillian found herself on the way to school again but detoured when she saw Bunny at the park. She walked over to him and looked up at him sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Easter Bunny.." she said softly to him. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings yesterday. I had a bad dream about you, and it made me scared you were going to yell at me, like in my dream."

Bunny reached out as if to pat her on the shoulder in comfort, but instead, his grip was hard and painful. Lillian winced and looked up at Bunny with wide eyes.

"What makes ya think I'll forgive ya for bein' so dumb as ta believe a nightmare?" Bunny said with a harsh glare at her.

Lillian looked as if Bunny had slapped her and tears gathered in her eyes.

"I thought.. I thought you liked me."

Bunny's next words made the tears fall down Lillian's cheeks as she began to cry.

"Well, you thought wrong."

* * *

Gethen smirked at Lillian, whom the Nightmare had kidnapped at his order. He had the Nightmare bring her back to his cave since he distinctly remembered being away at this time and he was starting to miss his home. She was currently asleep, having been knocked unconscious suddenly as the Nightmare had turned into a cloud of black sand and flown at her, sending her into a state of neverending nightmares.

The dreams would seem so realistic and damage her belief in the Guardians even more. Gethen had no issue with the Guardians specifically, but if it hurt the brat, then all the better. He knew he had already gotten his revenge by preventing her from becoming the Child of Spring, but he found he wanted more. She could be having a happy life as mortal and that just wouldn't do.

Once he had destroyed her belief, he would let her go. He hadn't planned on keeping her forever. It would be too cumbersome to have to look after a child for a long period of time. He was sure it wouldn't take long for Lillian's belief to fade, and then he could return back to the present and see the results of his handiwork. He was certain that he'd find an adult Lillian who was broken and depressed, her life void of all meaning.

It would be glorious!

He was so lucky that he had happened to stumble into this time on accident and just so happened to see that brat Jamie talking with Pitch Black, of all people. He had seen the Amulet of Protection*** around the boy's neck and knew precisely what Jamie was up to.

In breaking Lillian's belief, not only would he gladly get even more revenge on her, he'd also break that Jamie brat of the notion that he could do anything to help her.

No, Lillian was _doomed._

There would be no Child of Spring.

There would be no happy child, period.

As a somewhat insane evil smirk graced his features, a voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"What the.. What.. What are you doing here?!"

Gethen turned and stared at himself in surprise. Wasn't he supposed to be away?

1974 Gethen was looking at Time Traveler Gethen in horror.

* * *

Bunny's ears went back as he looked at the globe in dismay. He watched as Lillian's light grew even dimmer than before.

What was happening to her?!

They _h_ _ad_ to find her.

They had to.

* * *

As Bunny worried over Lillian and Gethen literally started to argue with himself, Jamie was struggling with Pitch Black, who still held him by the arm in a cruelly tight grip.

"What did you do to me?!" he shrieked, as he started to feel incredibly strange.

It felt like a sort of darkness was overwhelming him inside and he did _not_ like it. His belief, which was always very strong was trying to combat the darkness of the Nightmares, but there was so much black sand inside of him. Far more than what Lillian had had when Pitch had changed her. He even had more than Jack, not that Jamie was aware of it.

No, what he was aware of was the evil smirk Pitch was giving him. He was so foolish to trust Pitch! Pitch had seemed so genuine, so.. so.. trustworthy. He should have known he could never trust Pitch outside of his own time.

Jamie's last thoughts before the darkness completely overwhelmed him was how he had failed in his mission.

He would never help the Child of Spring now.

* * *

*So, in the movie it looks like Pitch has created the Nightmares for the first time. If we're also following the book plots though, Nightmares (fearlings) have existed the entire time. In fact, Pitch, when he was Kozmotis Pitchiner, used to go after them and lock them up! To compensate for this, I decided that in the murky time between the books and the movies that all the Nightmares at one time or another had probably vanished until Pitch found a way to recreate them by messing with Sandy's dreamsand.

**Don't forget, Pitch was evil before he became _more_ evil. In the books, he was a good person until the Nightmares tricked him into opening the door to their cell and then thousands of them flooded into Pitch, turning him into Pitch Black. So I figure Pitch has been battling this darkness for centuries. All the evil things he's done are when the darkness inside of him has become too strong. In 1974, he's at a time in his life where he's had a long stretch of keeping the darkness at bay. He's able to spread nightmares more responsibly and is almost like the Pitch in Jamie's present time. That darkness however, becomes stronger when the Nightmares are close by. The sheer evil of them is reacting with the other Nightmares that are inside Pitch, causing him to become more evil again.

***I forgot to mention this earlier. Since nobody had any guesses on what I stole the Amulet of Protection from, I'll just tell you. It's auryn from the Neverending Story. If you haven't read the book or watched the movie, you should do it. The movie is amazing and I love the opening theme song.

Author's Note: Whew, this chapter certainly has a lot going on! I hope you guys are as amused as I am at Gethen talking to Gethen there. Time Traveler Gethen hasn't quite realized that by changing just _one_ event, he's essentially changed everything. I don't think he's quite realized just how much Lillian being the Child of Spring has impacted everyone's lives.

And yes, Pitch has an evil plot going on while Gethen has an evil plot going on. Both are clueless to what the other is doing, so this should be very.. _fun._

This chapter was very difficult for me to write. I had a hard time making Bunny to be mean to Lillian in her dream, and I struggled with just how Pitch was going to be evil to Jamie. I felt like it was a bit repetitive having Jamie get possessed by the black sand, but then I realized that this Pitch wouldn't know about what the other Pitch did and he would be most likely to do this. It seems like the black sand is too strong for Jamie's belief to wipe it out, so it'll be interesting to see how Jamie gets out of this one.

As always, if you guys have any ideas or suggestions regarding anything, my ears are open!


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